The city council of Amsterdam has announced that fewer and fewer foreigners pay parking fees in our capital. Just over half of them simply park their car along the canals.
The CDA had asked the city council about foreigners who do not pay parking fees. According to the local news channel AT5 the chairman of the group wanted to know how it works, since parking spaces in the city are scarce. “Scarce parking spaces in the city should not be occupied by defaulters, while parking pressure is high in large parts of the city. In addition, the city would otherwise miss out on large amounts of income, ”he said.
So-called ‘random payment rate measurements’ make it clear that only 49 percent of foreigners put money in the parking machine. Two years ago, that percentage was still 53 percent. This may be because countries such as Germany and Poland do not share their drivers’ identity data with other countries. As a result, no fines can be collected.
Last year, foreigners were supposed to pay € 1.7 million in parking fines, but in only 15 percent of the cases, the foreign parker transferred the fine. In order to be able to catch the defaulters, wheel clamps may be placed on cars from certain countries after two parking fines. Still, the CDA wants to say AT5 more far-reaching measures.