Mayor accused of fixing fines
Unions complain that 3,600 parking fines thrown out – as newspaper says political and sports people got benefit
POLICE unions have lodged a legal complaint after 3,600 parking fines in Biarritz were cancelled - costing the town nearly €70,000 in lost revenue – and the mayor has admitted he was involved.
An investigating magistrate is looking into the case after a police audit by the Pyrénées-Atlantiques finance department confirmed the problem – which covered one in 10 of all parking fines.
The move followed a complaint by one of the unions representing municipal police officers, who had issued the penalty notices between 2009 and 2010.
Mayor Didier Borotra admitted in Sud Ouest newspaper that he had been involved in cancelling the fines but said that many of them had been issued in error and others had been cancelled for doctors and nurses who could not find a proper parking space for visits and for old people who could not find spaces in the busy town centre.
He said the situation was “laughable” as he was the man in charge of the municipal police and he did not feel he was being unfair.
However, Sud Ouest said it had information that more people were being let off their fines than the mayor was admitting: with drivers of big cars, famous sports people, business people and people close to the mayor also benefiting from his help.
