Belgium. Neither badly parked, nor speeding, “I received a 150 euro fine for simply driving”
On paper, it almost looked like a Belgian joke, without offending our neighbors… and yet: what a surprise to receive this week at home, near Paris, an official letter from the city of Ghent, in Belgium, almost making me pass for a delinquent. The commission of an offence? No speeding, no inconvenient parking… Just a simple drive through the city. Cost of the “administrative” fine: 150 euros. It’s the cold shower.
“In order to improve air quality…”
The weekend in Ghent had nevertheless gone well, in mid-March, for reunions with friends, punctuated by good waffles, good fries, good beers… Belgium, in short. Canals and bikes everywhere: Ghent, in the northwest, near the Dutch border, is a pretty city that looks like Amsterdam.
For three days, once the car was parked in the “suburbs”, we traveled by tram – easier. But before leaving for Paris on Sunday, a short stop at the flower market was a must in the city center, by car this time. This is where the “mistake” was made…
“In order to improve the air quality, the city center of Ghent is a low emission zone (or LEZ). This means that all foreign vehicles must register in advance and vehicles with high polluting emissions are not allowed to enter this part of the city,” reads the letter received at my home. So I have “broken the rules of the low emission zone”, as it is further specified in the letter.
My car was photographed by surveillance cameras installed in several places in the city – since my exact location was also written in black and white (see above) – and I was tracked 300 kilometers away .
How can we know?
The question is: how can a foreigner know of such a rule? By doing research on the Internet, however, it is quite easy to find the information: the city’s website allows you to register your vehicleand answers many of the questions that (angry) motorists have come up with.
Ironically, since my car is less than three years old, it is not considered polluting for the city of Ghent. I found out by asking for access a posterioriwhich “reduces” (normally) my fine to 75 euros.
Determined not to pay it (since it is totally unfair), I dial the number provided: “Hello”, I am answered in Dutch. Fortunately, my interlocutor has basics in French. I explain my situation to him, he seems sorry but “can’t do anything” for me. Some French people call him regularly to complain about the same reason, he continues. “All French number plates are photographed, whether the cars are polluting or not, because there is no agreement with France. For Dutch plates it is different…”
I also ask the agent how it is possible to know about this provision which has existed for two, three years. he replies that there are signs. I retort, a little doubtful: “If they are in Dutch, I would have had trouble understanding them…”. No, he challenges me. He describes them to me like this (below). Not obvious, right?
My interlocutor, always very understanding and not very surprised, advises me to register my vehicle – at first -, but above all to write an email, as part of my good faith – and attaching a photo of my car registration document to prove that this is the first time I have driven in Ghent and so I have never received this kind of mail….
Chasing motorists
Around me, when I talk (almost with amusement) about this story of PV, nobody seems to be aware of the existence of this “LEZ”. Only a colleague tells me that his son, who drove in Antwerp recently, received this same letter (and paid on the spot). Indeed, if the city of Ghent is concerned by these low emission zones, the cities of Antwerp and Brussels are also hunting motorists, like other countries, namely Switzerland or Italy.
An e-mail reached me this Tuesday evening in response to my question, simply indicating that my request would be received by the right department, which deals with “foreign plates”. For the moment, I don’t know yet if I’m going to have to pay this hundred euros that I could have used to go away for the weekend… elsewhere than in Belgium.
Because whatever happens, if I had stayed on a positive note after this nice moment, the flat country is not about to see me again…
End of story (Belgian).