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| Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash |
Welcome back - it's Day 19 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Today's prompt is
Bucket List
I have recently published two similar posts: At the top of the bucket... and Where do you want to go?
So instead, I'll take the liberty to tell you something that has been happening as we speak:
I got a phone call from the police.
Let's rewind to last week though. That's when I had a traffic ticket in the mail. You see, Swiss police barely ever confront you right then and there; they prefer to set up hidden radar devices and cameras and send you an infringement report with the bill attached to your home address.
It said I was driving on a general prohibition of vehicular traffic road.
The penalty is CHF (=USD) 100.
I was like
What? No!
The only tickets I'll ever get are for speeding or parking. I don't do "disregarding of regulation panels".
When was this supposed to have happened anyway?
Friday, October 29, 2021, just around 11pm.
What? No!
That's past my bedtime.
Where do they claim its happened?
Zurich, Hohlstrasse / Feldstrasse
I have a general idea where this is, but what on earth would I have done there on a Friday night? Colin usually has practice. But not in Zurich, and not at that late hour.
I checked my calendar. No, that was the one Friday with no practice. I'm pretty sure we went out for dinner in that case - with hubby's car! Sure enough, I even took a picture of the yummy venison plates.
Wait a minute.
They state the license plate of the vehicle that committed the violation.
What? No!
That's not my car! It's not even similar.
If this was Wordle, they would get two green (correct number in correct spot) and one yellow tile (correct number in the wrong spot, but the rest: gray!
What the heck? Why did they send me this ticket?
I tried to find out whose license plate this might be, but the database said this registration was either not in use or not accessible to the public.
It was past office hours, so I couldn't call, but they indicated there was an online platform where people may submit their objections. That's what I did. Took me quite a while. The things they want to know. What does my date and place of birth have to do with anything?
I was quitte impressed by the fact that they sent me a summary after I submitted my complaint. I took all these screenshots in vain ;-)
Attached please find a PDF of your appeal. Processing it may take some time, but you will hear from us again in any case.
This email was generated automatically. Please do not reply to this address.
Best regards,
Stadtpolizei Zürich
Zentralstelle für Verkehrs-und Ordnungsbussen
OK, now we wait.
Fast forward to today. An unknown number called my mobile. I usually don't answer these calls. I don't want to to purchase a newspaper subscription, I don't want to invest in a surefire way to make millions, and I don't even want to save on TV costs. Anyway, today I did pick up, and it was a nice lady from the police.
"Does (insert name of car bodywork company) ring a bell? Did you drive their loaner?" She asked.
Oops, yes I did! But not in late October. By then I finally had my own car back. I first hit the tree in May, and then the BMW in September.
"Well, they claim it must have been you. From the picture I'm looking at it may be a Skoda."
No way. That lemon they gave me was some Italian compact car, Lancia, I believe. I could barely shove Colin's hockey bag in the trunk. And again, that must have been at least a month prior to this incident. If you have a minute, I can produce their invoice. I'm sure it'll state the date.
"That's OK, take your time. In the meantime I'll call back the owner of that car and tell them it can't have been you. I'll call you back right after that!
And she did. Even confirmed in writing that it wasn't me:
Notice No. 210835108 010 7 dated October 29, 2021
Dear Ms. Gerber,
We have checked your objections and found that XXX, Carrosserie- und Fahrzeugbau, has provided us with incorrect driver data.The fine that was erroneously imposed on you is therefore invalid.
Kind regards
Stadtpolizei Zürich
Yay! That's a friendly cop lady right there. Now I have a hundred bucks I don't have to spend on a traffic ticket.
I think I should do something nice with that money. Do you have a favourite charity that is close to your heart?
PS: Do you play Wordle?
WOW, that would frustrate me! I'm glad they gave you written confirmation that you are in the clear! Now go drive S.....L....O....W! Maybe donate it to Colin's team!
ReplyDeleteThat was a quite weird incident...but the blog post was nice to read.
ReplyDeleteI have seen a lot of things going to the cameras and such to get you -- tolls in the States are doing that in a lot of places. That would have frustrated me to all hell as well ... but thankfully it ended in your favor.
ReplyDeleteAnd no Wordle for me.. not sure I've even really looked into it.
I don't know which would be more irritating: this or being pulled. I never open my mail, so being pulled would mean fewer ignored tickets.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an accommodating system you have. It would have been much more frustrating to deal with a similar issue in my particular state. Nothing but automated systems, no call backs, and lack of human to human assistance. Glad it all worked out for you.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that it worked out for you. It's fascinating to hear how different countries handle things. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI just started Wordle last week. I'll see how long I stick at it. I got all of last week's in 4 attempts and one in 6, so I think I might get a little bored with it.
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to sort out the ticket!!
Interesting story, Tamara. Glad you were able to clear it up. Something similar happened to me once. It was the traffic cop on our university campus. He came to my door about a parking violation. I told him he got the wrong person. He said a likely story but he was wrong. The license plate didn't match. The laugh was on him.
ReplyDeleteThe tickets in the mail but it is mostly for crossing the bridge without paying a toll or running a red light because they have cameras on the signals. The bridge tolls are easy to take care of because we have a FastTrack account and our cars are listed on it. Our police hide and catch you in person. We say they have quotas to meet. Fortunately, no tickets in our house for a long time.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell, I am glad it got sorted out
ReplyDelete