For almost 2 years, Christophe has been fighting to denounce the illegality of parking meter models that do not accept payment with coins.
“I ask everyone, the population to dare to do what I do. Stand up to the authorities, cities and towns and not pay.” Christophe has a lot on his heart. This resident of the province of Hainaut contacted us via the orange Alert us button to discuss a situation he considers illegal: parking meters that do not offer the possibility of payment in cash.
He recounts an episode that occurred a few months ago: “I parked in Mons. Wanting to pay for my parking space, I went to the parking meter with my wallet. Arrived there, I could not pay with change. The parking meter did not allow you to pay with money, but only by bank card, via an application or SMS”, he explains.
For him, it is neither more nor less than a form of discrimination. Christophe says to take refuge behind texts of laws. He adds: “The City has an obligation to treat all road users in the same way. By imposing payment by card, the city creates discrimination within the population. Not everyone has access to a bank card .” Since then, Christophe has refused to pay for any parking when parking meters do not offer a slot for coins. Predictably, the fines are piling up. There too, no question of paying. “I received fines which I did not pay. I dispute the modality of the parking meter model. I consider these parking meters to be illegal“, he recalls.
Christophe highlights another restrictive aspect of card payment. According to him, if he had a joint account with his wife, the bank statement indicates the time and place of payment. His wife could wonder about his movements, and imagine, Christophe tells us, that he was preparing a surprise for her or buying her a present. “At a time when we are talking about the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), for me it is an invasion of privacy. I do not have to have to justify my trips because the parking meter does not doesn’t allow me to pay per piece. If now I went to see my mistress, it would be the same”he quips.
The price of smartphones discriminating?
Finally, the last element pointed out, payments by smartphone or SMS are all the more discriminating for him as they require a cost: “Where is it written in the legal texts that all citizens must have a smartphone? ” The Hénuier puts before the price of smartphones which exclude part of the population. Christophe shows his mobile phone which “still works very well but does not allow you to download applications.”
In Belgium, on-street parking is a municipal responsibility. By parking, the user simply pays for the privatization of the communal public domain. Each municipality or city draws up the terms of payment related to parking. In Mons, for example, the city where Christophe parked and disputes his fees, the municipal regulations are clear: in 2015, the Municipal College decided to implement generalized payment for parking meters only electronically and by SMS.
No question of cash. However, Christopher it”dispose of a lawyer’s file in which there are also legal texts from the European Court of Justice, which also proves me right.” tone of Shooter is director of department at the Union of cities and towns of Wallonia (UCVW). For him, Christophe is “probably wrong”. It develops : “It is not a competitive activity and therefore economic law does not apply in the strict sense. It is an exercise of the commune, the occupation of the public domain. It is not subject to competition and therefore there is no obligation to offer this or that method of payment.“
In some cities, the cash drops to almost nothing
On a European scale only a recommendation (In know more…) invites cash payment. No obligation for municipalities. In general, to l’UCVWwe see that the trend is rather to abandon cash in our cities. The municipalities say to themselves that it avoids “vandalism but also the cost of collection, among others.“ Pablo Rauwers is the director of the company “Rauwers control”. His company is in charge of parking management for many municipalities. “The most parking meters are requested exclusively with payment by credit card and bank contact. There are still some municipalities that offer payment by cash, but the trend is decreasing.“
A decrease which is explained by the multiplication of payment methods: “There is a drop in payment at the parking meter. In some cities, the cash drops to almost nothing.” For the municipalities, the maintenance of its machines which offer cash is also restrictive. “We have to collect this cash. These are services that are quite expensive and as there is less and less cash in the parking meters, finally, in proportion to what we collect, the cost becomes higher.”