The importance of ensuring that the information relating to your driving licence is correct has been highlighted to a former resident of Elche recently, who discovered that he had been clocking up traffic fines without receiving notifications.
The problem only came to light when the treasury seized his bank account, prompting an investigation as to why, which resulted in the 52 outstanding traffic tickets, valued at almost 6,000 euro, being brought to light.
The sanctions were all relating to a stretch of the A-7 motorway near Mijas in the province of Málaga, where the maximum speed limit is 80 kilometres per hour and protected by a multi-point radar system where the speed is monitored for a stretch of road, not just at the visible point of the monitoring equipment.
The driver, who moved to Benalmádena in 2013, claims to have notified the DGT of his change of address, but the sanctions were all sent to his previous Elche home. His lawyer has filed several appeals to contest the fines on his behalf, but he has already paid half of the fines through his seized bank account.
The driver also said in an interview that he had no knowledge of how the speed monitoring equipment worked and will be “more careful” in the future.
A trial date has been set to resolve the matter one way or another, but not until 2018.
Fines and sanctions can be checked by individuals on the DGT website, dgt.es, under the section Trámites y multas, which can be found on the front page. There is also information available in English (and other languages) as to what to do if you receive a fine.