City repaints parking bays around cars … then fines drivers
Nick Squires
Rome: When Stefano Angeloni parked his rickety Honda on Rome’s Via Catullo, the white lines in the parking lot made it clear he wouldn’t have to pay.
But when the 65-year-old dentist returned the next morning, the lines had turned blue and a €29.40 ($48.30) fine had been placed under the windshield wiper.
He wasn’t the only victim of an overnight council car park attack.
Car owners had new traffic lines drawn around their vehicles and were then fined for illegal parking by overzealous authorities.
Municipal crews took to the streets of Italy’s capital and, with a few dabs of paint, transformed free, legal parking spaces into paid spots overnight.
Instead of dismantling parked cars, they painted around their tires.
In Rome, free parking spaces are marked with white lines and paid parking spaces are marked with blue paint.
Among the affected residents was Angeloni, who parked his car legally in the upscale Prati district.
He said there was no advance notice of the change.
Angeloni recorded this scene on his phone and shared it on social media, thinking he could attract comments from his friends and family.
But the clip went viral, with more than 40,000 views and thousands of comments from sympathetic Romans. Some said they had encountered the same sudden nighttime parking changes in other parts of the capital.
“Look at this. I left the car with white stripes. A day later they painted them blue. Frankly, they couldn’t lift my car or the others. The white stripes turned blue. The result? A very nice fine. It’s great, isn’t it? We live in a great city,” he said with irony in the video clip.
‘The most Roman thing ever’
While some citizens found the incident amusing, others responded with bored resignation.
“The most Roman thing ever,” one wrote on Instagram.
An Italian woman commented: “I love the way you paint around your tires. It takes skill.”
Another said: “The spots under your car’s tires are still white so I think you can appeal this penalty.”
Angeloni agreed that he could appeal the fine, but since the car belonged to his sister-in-law and he didn’t want her to go through the trouble, he decided to pay the money.
The company that manages the city’s paid parking spaces, known by its acronym ATAC, admitted its employees were “overzealous” in painting around parked cars. It was stated that the fines imposed on Angeloni and other people in similar situations will be canceled and refunds will be made.
The company said it will provide more information to residents and drivers when parking rules change.
Parking in Rome is already a daily struggle; drivers often spend half an hour or more trying to find a vacant seat before overnight paint jobs suddenly change the rules.
Illegal parking in any available spot is common, as is double or even triple parking. Drivers routinely find themselves stuck between other cars and resort to constantly honking their horns to attract the attention of anyone blocking them.
Telegraph, London
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