English
Español
Secret Serranía contributor Paul Whitelock lives in Montejaque, where it is notoriously difficult to find somewhere to park your car.
Paul has been issued with five parking tickets in a period of two months – that amounts to 1,000 euros if you don’t pay quickly to get the 50 per cent discount.
Paul thinks he is the victim of a vendetta by the policía local.
Montejaque is a typical pueblo blanco with its narrow streets and steep hills. The two car parks are a long way from just about everywhere.
So, parking the car is difficult for me at the best of times. However, I am “reforming” a house which means I have to unload building materials and get rid of rubble, which is a big challenge if the Ronda rozzers are about.
Montejaque currently has no policía local of its own and has to bring in municipales from other towns like Ronda, Igualeja and Cuevas del Becerro.
Unfortunately, the bobbies from Ronda are totally inflexible and are applying the law as it is written rather than trying to work with us so that we can unload materials, order skips to get rid of escombros and get on with our working lives without the fear of a fine.
I have been fined five times for parking infringements this year. These two local bobbies say that I am the worst parker they have ever come across. But, despite this, they have made a mistake with my last fine, as confirmed by a colleague of theirs in Ronda.
The latest fine is wrong. I parked in a boca calle, a cul-de-sac. That makes their comment on the parking ticket, “blocking traffic”, a nonsense. There is a no parking sign, but it’s the one with a circle and just one diagonal line, which means no parking on this side of the street, not the sign with a cross which means no parking whatsoever.
I parked on the other side of the road, so I parked legally.
This evening (Thursday), as I was having a nightcap in the square, the Ronda coppers set off up the hill to, presumable, sneak around to see who was parking badly.
After their tour of the village, I went to see them. I explained that they had made a mistake and gave them the opportunity to withdraw or cancel the fine.
They said that they could not do that. I had to wait until the fine came through the post and then follow the procedures for making a complaint. I shall do that. I’ll probably lose.
I’ll let you know the outcome.
