2023-11-03 14:11:00
Christiaan Marichal still finds it hard to believe it. This resident and municipal councilor MR of Kraainem, on the outskirts of Brussels, and his wife were unpleasantly surprised when leaving their aquagym class on avenue Baron Albert d’Huart. “We got a ticket.”
Christiaan’s ticket. ©DR
Their blue disc was however affixed… but was officially non-compliant because it was too old. “We were fined for invalid parking, and we were given a new blue disc on our windshield. We are not the only ones to have been fined that day,” laments Brabançon.
In fact, he later learned, the format of the discs has changed in Belgium since 2003. Now there are no more quarter-hour divisions, and the inscription must be translated into the three national languages. “We were really in good faith: we had placed the disc well. It’s a small step.” Reluctantly, the Kraainemois resigned himself to paying the 35 euros.
Verbalized in Saint-Josse, Alain denounces the unclear signage of the delivery areas, “bordering on dishonesty”: “A trap”
“A little petty”
The local authorities of the small Brabant entity assure that they have never expressly asked to check the age of the records. Parking management is subcontracted with CityParking, a subsidiary of QPark. “It’s a bit petty,” says Mobility alderman Johan Forton. “They might have given a warning instead of directly issuing a fine.” Contacted this Friday, the QPark company did not respond to our requests for explanations at the time of writing these lines.
“We’ll see what we can do, but the law is the law. I specify that this has nothing to do with the linguistic aspects (of the municipality with facilities)”, notes mayor Bertrand Waucquez, who recalls that the operator in question was chosen by a previous aldermanic college.
An Ucclois resident takes the Brussels Ring road… by bike and ends up in court: “I was in a hurry”
Everywhere in Belgium
Motorists, you would in any case better check the format of your blue disk if you want to avoid unpleasant and expensive surprises. Because subtlety goes far beyond the narrow boundaries of Kraainem.
Beware of fines if your parking disc is expired
In 2018, La Derniere Heure already collected the testimony of Brigitte, fined for an outdated record in Jambes in Namurois. More recently, last summer, the problem has caused ink to flow in Bruges. After several fines by the subcontractor in the capital of West Flanders, Mayor CD&V banged his fist on the table and asked the subcontractor to be lenient in accepting the different disc formats.
A valid disk (left) and an expired disk (right). ©DR & Belga
The FPS Mobility specifies on its site that only one disc model is valid in Belgium : this model is divided into hours and half hours, and features inscriptions in French, Dutch and German. Belgian-Belgian subtlety, don’t always trust the parking signs, because they sometimes show images of old discs that are no longer valid…
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