Paging the German speakers...

So... after the little summer excitement I came home to a letter from
Switzerland. Registered delivery...

Unfortunately it's in German and my poor German is not good enough to
understand. So I've retyped it below; and have ignored the umlauts.

If anyone can tell me if I can safely ignore this I'd be happy.

It's headed "request for notification" (that much I can work out...)

The rest reads:

"wir teilen Ihnen mit, dass die Akten der SVG-Ubertretung vom
31.08.2009, in Sachen Missachten des signalisierten uberholverbots und
uberholen auf einer Einspurstrecke, beim Kreisamt Ramosch eingegangen
sind.

Im Betracht fallende Ubertretungstatbestande
Art 27 Abs.1 SVG und Art. 13 Abs. 3 VRV i.V.m Art 90 Ziff. 1 SVG

Sie erhalten hiermit Gelegenheit, sich zu dieser Anzeige innert 10 Tagen
schriftlich vernehmen zu lassen. Geht innert Frist keine Vernehmlassung
ein, wird auf Grund der Akten entschieden."

I *think* what this says is it's coming to court in 10 days and I have
the opportunity to add further comments/defence. If I don't then it
will be judged based on existing paperwork. Of course since it was sent
on the 23rd of September it's all a bit of a moot point.

 

What they're saying is that they've spoken to their friends in France
and Germany and it appears that you're something of a serial offender.

They're going to bang you up for 20 years minimum.

 

Er... yes done that with a couple of engines but it's still not
completely clear what it actually means. I did a couple of machine
translations but they didn't seem to give clarity at the end on *what*
happens if no notification is received.

 

That's not German, that is Swiss Bureaucrese.

Basically, they've caught you overtaking somewhere where it was
forbidden to do so and are offering you to comment on this in
writing. If you don't respond they'll make the decision based on their
records, which will probably mean a nice demand for cash.

Did you actually get pulled for overtaking where you shouldn't and
whereabouts was that if you remember (if it was anywhere near Ramosch I
should know the road as my mum lives in that area).

But basically, I'd take a different vehicle to Switzerland the next
time.

 

"Do you want to be the Mummy or the Daddy?"

"Come here and suck Mummy's cock"

 

****'em. Last time I looked, Germany was not Britain.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique,
typed

"You are to board the second carriage on the train. You will be able to
take a shower at your destination."

 

This is similar to how they dealt with a guy I work with who was
caught speeding over there in that he had the obligatory 400 Euro on
the spot hit and then they did him again a few weeks later for another
wedge.

He ignored a couple of letters demanding money and paid in the end
when it was pointed out to him that he goes skiing there every year
and even the smallest traffic offence would see him banged up when
they realised he already owed them for unpaid fines.

They're cunts but you have to decide if you ever want to go there
again and pay if you think you'll be returning. I'd wait and see how
much they demanded and then make a decision based on whether I thought
either work or holidays would take me back. I don't think I'd be
popular if a different A.Bonwick was arrested when visiting on
business...

 

A mere detail.

 

Thanks.

Thing is that they caught me (for overtaking where I shouldn't) and
fined me 600CHF on the spot. Which I paid. They said it would come to
court in four or so weeks. Eight weeks or so ago. Pulled us (there were
three other miscreants) at the border.

Given that it's taken over three weeks to arrive I guess it's all too
late. Thing is they copied my registration, license and also passport.
On occassion I need to go to Switzerland so I would hope there isn't
another demand for cash on top of the 600CHF they've already had (and,
yes, I've still got the receipt).

 

Is Switzerland the country that bases your fine on income?

 

is the key bit of info. As said ^^ up there, if you ever intend to go
back, computer will know. And it'll be at passport control on your way
out too, when you may have plane to catch. or not.

Typical teutonic thoroughness is not to be underestimated....

 

Right. Thanks for that.

 

Fook!

Yes, I can see it was small change to someone on that much money, but
even so, given the relatively trivial offence committed... :-O

 

A few here have been caught by that, one even done a bit of porridge
for the "**** that I ain't paying attitude", which, it has to be
mentioned, he said was really quite a nice jail.

 

It might be worth getting in touch with them pointing out that the
letter took three weeks to arrive (which they can verify from the
registered post bit unless the postie couldn't figure out what it
was). If they are really feel strapped for cash there are ways to
enforce debts cross border (basically they'll have to get another court
order in the UK to allow them to collect the debt, but they can do that)
and I'll bet that the not insubstantial cost of it will be dumped on
you, too.

 

Wow. Nearly as much as the Alpine Runners managed between them....

 

Yes.

It's fair to say that Burnt and I had some slight memory problems when
we filled in the forms.

 

If you're unemployed, do they pay you?

 

Yes, as Timo says, it's the opportunity to comment or request that you
attend the court hearing - I had one earlier this year for 76kph in a
50 limit - as it wasn't something that could simply be dealt with by a
fixed penalty (in your case because you're foreign, in mine bacause it
was more than 20 over the limit).

You are not required to reply, nor to attend court, and the fine will
be calculated the same whether you do or not. The only reason to do so
would be if there were genuine mitigating circumstances, which don't
normally include "foreign laws don't apply to me". I didn't bother,
and was landed with about a 600chf fine and a warning that my licence
could be revoked if I did it again, which is par for the course
AFAICT.

You'll get another letter in due course notifying you of the fine
imposed and demanding settlement if it's more than you paid, or a
credit note if it's the other way round, which is, I'd suggest,
somewhat unlikely. Most likely they'll look at what you paid the cops
and call it quits. If not, I do suggest that you pay the difference -
the Swiss are tenacious bastards and every branch of their beaurocracy
talks to every other one, so a simple passport check would flag it up
and get you in serious hot water.

Even if you don't ever intend to come back, they do have bilateral
agreements with the UK, so may be able to chase it up via UK plod or
bailiffs.