Undeserved

Photo Credit: Denny Müller auf Unsplash

About 18 months ago 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 in the ban.

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. 

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 quite 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 a few days later. 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, that particular day 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. I'm looking at the picture, and 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 couldn'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 had a hundred bucks I don't have to spend on a traffic ticket. I gave the money to my Mom who is friends with people who support Ukrainian refugees living in the area. Monay well spent. 

That was quite the highlight! Have you ever had a traffic fine revoked?