Parking fines in Spain are municipal: the town hall imposes them, through its local police or the company that runs the paid-parking zones (the ORA, zona azul or zona verde). You may find a ticket on the windscreen, or receive a letter at home when nobody was there to hand it to — the usual case with a rental car.
The ticket on the windscreen
It shows the street, the time, the offence (no ticket, time exceeded, a loading bay, a disabled space) and how to pay. In many towns a blue-zone ticket can be cancelled at the parking meter for a small fee if you do it soon — the ticket says whether and until when. This is the cheapest way out and it is not available once the fine is processed.
The fine
- Pay with 50% off within 20 calendar days of the notice — online on the town hall's (or its tax agency's) website, at a bank or by card, with the case number. Paying ends the case.
- Object (alegaciones) in the same 20 days if the fine is wrong — the meter was broken, the signs were missing, you had paid.
Many towns collect their fines through a provincial tax agency — in the province of Alicante, for example, SUMA — so the letter may carry that agency's name rather than the town's.
If the car was towed
The car goes to the municipal depot (depósito, grúa): you pay the towing and the daily storage before you get it back, and the fine comes on top.
If you do nothing
Without payment or objection the fine becomes final at the full amount, and an unpaid fine goes to enforcement — a providencia de apremio with a surcharge. With a rental car, the hire company passes your details on and may charge its own fee — see a fine for a rental car.
For a fine you think is wrong, a lawyer for fines and administrative penalties can prepare the objection.
Prepared by Legal Help Tool. Last updated . General information, not legal advice.
