Tallinn's Lasnamäe resident paid €70 in parking fines at his own building
Sergei, a resident of Tallinn's Lasnamäe district, paid a total of €70 in parking fines at his own building despite being entitled to park there. After the news outlet Zerkalo got involved, the fine was cancelled and the housing association agreed to refund the money.
A resident of the Lasnamäe district in Tallinn, Estonia's capital, paid €70 in fines for parking by his own building on Kivila Street, even though he had the right to park there. The Russian-language news outlet Zerkalo helped resolve the matter: the fine was cancelled and the apartment association agreed to return the money.
In Lasnamäe, many apartment associations reserve parking near buildings for local residents only, sometimes even assigning specific spots to specific cars. The building at Kivila 11 has its own lot, where only residents of that building may park. According to the resident, Sergei, the board introduced new parking cards and began registering cars by licence plate about a year and a half ago. Glitches followed the switch: employees of the parking company reportedly told him his number was not in the system, even though he showed his card and documents proving he lives there.
How the fine arose
In July, wind may have blown the card off his car's dashboard, and the next morning a €60 fine was on the vehicle. The association had a new board by then. After he phoned, he was asked to pay €10, yet the paper stated €60. Receiving no explanations and no replies to his text messages, he paid the €60. Later he found a demand in his mailbox to pay another €10 within seven days, and he paid that too, fearing penalty interest.
The board's explanation
Board member Karolina Barinova-Mizhuris said the board has served for a year and that the procedure was set by the previous board, from which it received no documents. Fines are issued by the parking company ParkIT based on the cards. She said Sergei's fine was cancelled, but he paid it himself, possibly because he did not understand a notice written in the state language. In her view, he is not providing an account number for the refund and ignores messages.
The association is ready to accept the account number in any form, including by phone, by post or by leaving it in the water meter box. Sergei said he would come and hand over the number in person.
