City of Graz takes stock:

160,000 parking offenders – and 51 have to go to prison!

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

There are 902 parking meters in Graz. But not all drivers use them, because almost one million euros in fines are outstanding.

Who hasn't experienced it: a glance at the clock and the fatal realization that the parking ticket has expired. You sprint towards your car in the hope that you might just make it in time. But it's too late: the damned parking ticket is already stuck behind the windshield wiper. "160,000 parking tickets were issued in Graz last year - 1500 more than in 2023," says Thomas Fischer, Head of the Graz Road Authority.

The fines range from 24 to 600 euros
A third of these are for so-called offenses under the Road Traffic Act (StVO), i.e. unlawful parking in disabled parking spaces, in towing zones or in stopping and parking bans. The rest are parking fines, i.e. parking illegally or without a parking ticket in a blue or green zone.

The "first" ticket costs 24 euros or 25 euros for a StVO offense. "If the fine is paid, the matter is settled," says Fischer. If this does not happen, the license holder receives an anonymous fine by post. The cost: 35 euros. "If this is not paid either, the fine will follow," explains the head of the Graz parking spaces.

Around 40 people a year have to serve a substitute custodial sentence because all appeals and executions have been unsuccessful. There are currently 51 appeals.

Thomas Fischer, Leiter Straßenamt Graz

Bild: Foto Fischer

"In this case, a driver's census is carried out and the owner of the wrongly parked car must disclose who was driving." The person will then only be asked to pay. However, they have the option of appealing to the Provincial Administrative Court if they believe that the ticket is incorrect.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

Those who can't or don't want to pay are "sent off"
On average, 40,000 penalty notices are issued each year. The cost is between 50 and 600 euros, depending on previous convictions. Those who cannot or will not pay are executed. If the execution is also unsuccessful, a substitute custodial sentence is imposed. This currently applies to 51 parking offenders in Graz. "In some cases, however, we are already dealing with five-digit amounts," emphasizes Thomas Fischer.

Incidentally, there are 24,179 parking spaces available in the blue and green zones in Graz. 2,000 fewer than in 2018. "The reduction in parking spaces has mainly taken place in the blue zone." Revenue from parking tickets and parking stickers amounted to 25.1 million euros in the previous year. In 2022, it was "only" 18.2 million euros.

20 percent of people in Graz already use cell phone parking. The trend is rising. "There is a noticeable shift here because the fee is calculated more accurately."

Auto mit Parkkralle versehen

Dauer-Sünderin will Bußgeld nicht zahlen

Since November, a silver BMW with a Zagreb license plate has been parked in the blue zone at Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Kai in Graz - equipped with a parking claw. This is because the Croatian driver refuses to pay the outstanding parking fines. She has accumulated over 8000 euros. "The lady has even been to our parking fines department before. But when she was told the provisional amount of the outstanding fines, she stormed out in a rage," said the head of the roads department, Thomas Fischer, when the case was uncovered by the "Krone" newspaper. Because the claw is only removed when the owner pays. But apparently the lady doesn't need her car.

As the BMW is registered, parked in a parking space and does not obstruct traffic, it cannot be towed away. This is only possible if, for example, license plates are missing or there is imminent danger. The authorities are now waiting for the insurance to expire so that the license plates can be removed and the BMW can be towed away. After six months, the vehicle becomes the property of the city, which can then auction it off to cover most of the costs.