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Driving violation in Florence - Bus Lanes

Posted by on

I have just been notified by LocAuto (Enterprise) by email, about a fine issued to my rented vehicle in January 2022 in Florence.

I have read the 2014-2015 thread discussing the issue of driving in Florence (ZTL and Bus lanes) where the original poster regretted not being able to have access to the Ticket and payment information until after the 30% discount period has expired (if paid within 5 days of violation issuance) - the ticket has reached the author 7 months after the incident (presumably by mail).

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/driving-warning-for-florence-bus-lanes-1d1b1a77-9ade-42e6-ac37-87991b9bbb56

So I decided to get in front of it and have started a conversation LocAuto customer service by following the link: www.LocAuto.it/customerservice and filling out the online form. The text I entered into the form was "Please provide details of violation and an address of police authority so I could make an inquiry" (in English). This morning I got a reply (in English) that Firenze sezione autostradale violation nr. 12345567 alleges that "committed under the municipality of Firenze on the 02/01/2022 at 17.08 due to circulating on a public transport reserved lane".

I have immediately sent an inquiry to the following email: [email protected] (I hope they check emails)

Source:
Questure di Firenze - Sezione Polizia Stradale Firenze (Ufficio Verbali)
https://questure.poliziadistato.it/servizio/uffici/5730dc9d198cb674353839

I will update this post once/if I have received a reply.

Posted by
3812 posts

The 5 days period starts when you receive the letter from Italy, obviously not from "ticket issuance"; what you read is wrong.

If you haven't received any letter from from Florence Cops you just have to wait.

Locauto has received a letter from the cop saying: "you own this car. It was fined on this day and we have a photo to prove it. You have 60 days to pay the fine or tell us who was responsible for that car on that day". Locauto's only obligation is to provide cops with your name and address.
They could forward you the letter they received from the cops, but it makes no difference for you. The moment cops know the name of the actual offender, they put out a new fine in your name to re-start the clock of the statute of limitations (360 days to mail the fine via registered letter).

In short you wrote two mails because... No actual reason? Because of wrong info on the internet? It happens, some won elections for the same reason.

Oh, incidentally either you were fined in the Province of Florence and not in the city or you may have written to the wrong Corp.

Posted by
7889 posts

Welcome to the newsboard with your first post, timmi4sa.

You didn't make any comment on whether it is possible that the ticket could possibly be correct. Were you driving in Florence that day? I see warnings of photo bus lane enforcement in New York City every day I am there. It happens. I once got a parking ticket while waiting with the engine running, for my elderly mother in the Imperialist-Black-Car zone of the Bloomberg building. Legal and "right" are not always the same thing.

Have you received a credit card charge from the rental company for identifying the car yet?

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