Caught in holiday traffic

Phil Nicholas spent the final day of his Italian holiday in Pisa. After negotiating the city's traffic-clogged streets, he found a parking space close to the centre, put some euros in the meter and was soon among the throngs admiring the Piazza dei Miracoli.

Then last week he received a letter from Pisa's police - in English - demanding €113 (£91) for "circulating in a restricted traffic zone". If he doesn't pay in 60 days the fine rises to €185. "I can't remember seeing any signs at the time," he says. "It just seems like a tax for unwary tourists."

He's not alone. Just days after he wrote to Guardian Money, we heard from Barry Delaney, from Cheshire. He too was contacted by the Pisa authorities last week, demanding payment for entering a limited zone. The notice gave details of a website to view a photo of the violation - but when he tried to find it, the photo "could not be presented".

What surprised both men is that the fines were not for violations this summer, but date back many months. In Delaney's case, the alleged violation occurred in June 2007. "I feel strongly that after such a long time, without apparent evidence, I am being presented with a hefty bill."

In both cases the drivers were using hired cars. But motorists using their own cars cannot escape.

So what is their position now? Are the police taking the pisa, or are these genuine fines? Can foreign authorities access your data at the DVLA? And what happens if you fail to pay? Finding answers to these questions is extraordinarily difficult. Despite a 2005 EU directive - the Mutual Enforcement of Financial Penalties - in reality a picture emerges of ad hoc arrangements and widespread confusion.

Are these fines a scam? In some cases, they are. In August 2004, Guardian Money revealed hundreds of tourists returning from Spain had been sent demands for €129 to pay non-existent motoring offences. Most were for "violations" in the Canaries. The Office of Fair Trading called it a "convincing scam", and told holidaymakers not to pay.

But the fines from Italy look more genuine. According to the Italian government tourist board, ENIT, "zona traffico limitato" areas are in operation in most major cities. Cameras snap vehicles crossing the zone and send the photos to the municipal police computer, which generates a ticket.

Back in Britain, the DVLA is forbidden from giving details of UK drivers to foreign enforcement agencies. But the Italians and other police authorities across Europe have found a simple way to circumvent this rule. The DVLA is obliged to release information to anyone in the UK who has a reasonable cause to need it, so foreign authorities have simply hired UK companies to chase fines on their behalf. Probably the biggest is Euro Parking Collection (EPC), which acts for municipalities across the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Scandinavia, and is running a pilot scheme with Florence in Italy.

Can you be forced to pay? EPC says it has a 50% success rate in making British drivers pay, although it describes itself more as a notification, translation and collection service than an enforcement body.

EPC legal manager Stuart Hendry says it sends a translated charge notification to the UK address it obtains from the DVLA. He says that no matter where the offence occurs drivers have the same appeal rights as a UK domestic offender. If the driver ignores it, the notice goes back to the issuing authority, which then decides whether to begin cross-border legal action. Hendry admits that few authorities will be bothered to pursue a single fine.

"If you don't pay a notified fine, the legislation is in place to enforce these fines in most countries, but it's a question of practicality and whether it's financially worth pursuing." That suggests you can safely ignore it - but beware that it may be treated as a criminal offence and your details held in the country concerned. Ultimately, your car could be seized on your return.

Tim Shallcross, head of technical policy at IAM Motoring Trust, says: "If I knew I'd committed an offence abroad, even unwittingly, and I wanted to return to that country later, personally I wouldn't chance it. I'd pay the fine."

In Delaney's case it looks like he has a strong case for refusing to pay. According to Hendry, authorities in most European countries are obliged to send a notice within 12 months of the alleged incident.

Won't the hire car company simply take it off my credit card? Yes and no. It's down to individual car hire contracts and local legislation. In the UK, if you are caught, say, in a bus lane, the liability to pay rests with the hire company, according to the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association. It will pay up as soon as it receives the charge, then claim it back off the credit card used for the booking. But if the offence is speeding, then the car hire company sends the details of the hirer for the police to pursue. It's likely that, in Italy, the hire companies were obliged to send address details to the police rather than take fines off the hirer's credit card.

Why are the fines coming from Italy and not France or Spain? It's another legal peculiarity. In France, Spain and Germany the police cannot outsource the collection of fines, so they can't obtain data from the DVLA. But that's not a licence to drive like a lunatic in those countries; on-the-spot fines are far more prevalent than in the UK.

What about all those Europeans over here? I bet they never pay fines. Wrong. Euro Parking's biggest client is Transport for London (TfL), and since 2005 has chased European drivers for unpaid congestion charges.

A TfL spokesperson says EPC regularly recovers around 40% of the penalties issued.

But looked at another way, that means the drivers of six out of 10 foreign-registered vehicles don't cough up. The Germans, it seems, are the worst. There are nearly 30,000 unpaid congestion charge notices against German vehicles, followed by Poland (15,376) Italy (11,846) and Spain (9,493)[e-mail]