During a visit to Mechelen (Antwerp Province) Veronique De Sitter from the East Flemish municipality of Hamme parked her car in a so-called “Blue Zone”, an area where motorists can park for up to two hours free-of-charge provided that they display a parking disk showing how long they are going to be parked for. She thought that she had done everything by the book. However, the East Fleming was issued with a parking fine as the parking disk she displayed in her windscreen was “non-compliant”.
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Beware! You can be fined if you don’t use the correct parking disk
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But which parking disks are compliant and which are not? VRT Radio 2’s ‘The Inspector’ investigated the issue in Thursday morning’s programme.
As those of you that drive in Belgium will probably know, you are allowed to park in a so-called “Blue Zone” for up to 2 hours (unless otherwise indicated) free of charge as long as parking disk is clearly on display through the windscreen of your car. However, not just any old parking disk will do. The disk must be compliant to rules set out by the EU regarding its design and the information contained on it (see photo above).
Veronique De Sitter knows the rules regarding parking and she parked her car accordingly while she was on a trip to Mechelen. Or at least she thought she did.
"To my great surprise I was issued with a fine. I contested it straight away as that the fine had been issued before the period of time that I had displayed on my parking disk had elapsed”.
However, the time displayed on the parking disk was not the issue. The problem was the parking disk itself.
Invalid parking disk
"I was told that my parking disk is invalid” Veronique was gob smacked. "I received my parking disk from a garage some time ago. Isn’t it incredible that you can be find because of the design of a parking disk?”
However, this is the case. Since 31 March 2003 all parking disks used to park in a Blue Zone must be compliant with a standard design approved by the EU for the whole of the European Union.
An official parking disk musk have a blue cover and display the words “hour of arrival” in all three (Dutch, French, German) languages that are the official language in (part of) Belgium. Under the blue cover is a white disk that is dived up into 12 hours and between them half hours. Disks that (for example) only have Dutch and French texts on them or on which the hours are subdivided into quarters rather than halves are non-compliant and as such those that use them could be fined.
Veronique De Sitter’s disk had no German text and the hours on it are subdivided into quarters. The disk (photo above) dates back to before the rule on parking disk compliance was introduced in 2003. She told VRT Radio 2 that “I have gone public so that other people are made aware of this crazy rule”.