Hello,

And Happy New Year for every reader! :-)

In November and December, I parked several times in Brussels (as well as in Namur, the city I am residing in), always making sure to pay for parking using the 4411 app, and maybe once or twice in cash for very short periods.

Despite this, I received no less than four parking fines, all of them corresponding to periods that were paid through the app.

I have essentially three questions.

1. On the 31st of December, I parked at several places, at several times during the day, because I had to do some errands. However, the document does not indicate any timestamp for the report of the scan car. Is it even legal?

2. The document indicates explicitly that I should pay even if I dispute it... But I guess that if I ever pay, I will never see my money again, right?
(The exact terms on the document, translated by me: "On the XX-XX-XX, we have noticed that the vehicule ... parked in the Street Rue de la Royauté did not respect the parking conditions <legal reference>. You should pay XX €". It's shorten, but you get the point...)

3. Has anyone encountered similar issues with the 4411 app recently? Or maybe there have been issues/bugs with the app that I might have missed?

Thanks for any feedback, answer, or help...

Note: I posted a similar one on r/Namur, but figured that it is worth asking on this sub due to different conditions related to the ill-formed (IMO) form.

Thanks for the notice, but when was it?...

  • Sometimes it could be that even though you paid you were not allowed to park (construction panels blocking the spot for example), it happened to me once or twice.

    As for point 2: on two occasions at least I disputed a fine and I was quickly reimbursed

    parent

    If parking is prohibited, wouldn’t that be an actual fine that only a cop can impose?

    parent root

    That’s a fair question but tbh I didn’t question it, I do remember thinking the format of the letter I received was a bit different from the usual parking fines

    parent root

    The document clearly mentioned that the violation was observed using automated means (aka. a scan car). For what I understand (and discussed in other comments), this should only be possible for regular parking spots... That's what disturbed me, especially because I park often in this very street near my stepparents' house.

    parent root

  • You should always pay the fine, even when contesting.

    Because then you'd be in the wrong for not paying the fine, even though you'd be in the right for contesting it.

    And you would almost always have to pay the extra fees for the delayed payment of the fine, even if they do lift the initial fine.

    parent

  • Just to answer the part about "should pay even if you dispute it", I have always received my money back after a dispute (where I was reasonably in the right).

    My email about these always start like "I just received fine XYZ, which I promptly paid today. I don't think the fine is justified because I paid my parking, as per attached supporting documentation. My account number for reimbursement BE12345. If I can offer additional information on this matter I'm happy to provide"

    parent

  • Had an issue with 4411 last year where I paid, saw the active session and a few hours later got a message that there was an issue activating the session. Started a new session.

    But a scan car already scanned and gave me a fine. But they waited 13 days to actually issue the fine. (Which is technically within the letter of the law)

    Now the real kicker, 4411 says there was likely a local issue, however they only keep logs for the last 7 days on your device and local issues are not registered by them.

    OPC, only sent out automated answers and the person at the counter just stood up and closed the blinds when I presented my evidence.

    In total I paid for 2 day tickets + service charge + the fine that consisted out of 4 day parking tariff.

    OPC is also under the limit of small claims court and they widely abuse that position. (See Google maps reviews on any of their offices)

    4411 claims I might not have had internet (ok but why show an ok/success banner in that case?) besides that, I closed my car remotely with the app on my phone (that fully relies on internet), I then used Google maps (that also need internet) to navigate to my destination by foot (didn't bring lunch and looked for a nearby shop)

    The billed sessions were not enough proof to show that I parked and paid per OPC.

    I started to use the physical machine with a physical parking ticket again whenever I need street parking.

    parent

  • Don't use 4411.

    parent

  • This is Parking Brussels for you... Fine now, talk later...

    parent