Parking can sometimes be infuriating. It probably shouldn’t be, but spaces can sometimes be too tight, or parking restrictions can often be a bit ridiculous. But imagine going viral for what has been dubbed a ‘fantastic’ parking violation, and has been reported by The Daily Mirror.
The incident involved Italian driver Stefano Angeloni, and he recently took to his Instagram page to reveal his disgust at what he called a cheeky move by parking inspectors in Rome. According to Angeloni, he had parked perfectly legally in the Italian city on one of its streets.
Fast forward to after he had been out and about, and Angeloni came back to his car to find a parking fine stuck to the windshield of his car. But what really stunned him was that he saw fresh parking lines painted around the tires of his car.
What Angeloni said happened was that, after he had gone from his parked car, fresh lines had been painted around this car. But these new lines indicated that he should have paid for his parking ticket, but when he had originally parked the car, the lines indicated that he did not need to do that.
What Happened to the Italian Driver?
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Angeloni had parked his car legally on a street in Rome, but when he came back, he found new blue lines parked around the Honda he was driving. A parking fine was also attached to the windshield. The blue lines might sound insignificant, but they indicate something different when it comes to parking in Rome.
White lines around a car mean you can park there without paying for a ticket. Blue lines mean you can also park, but you need to go and pay for your parking. So you can imagine the shock for Angeloni when he came back after parking on white lines, only to find freshly painted blue lines had been painted around the car instead. That is what led to him getting the ticket that cost €29.40, roughly $33.64.
Angeloni posted a clip of the incident on his Instagram account. “Look at this fantastic parking spot I found. I leave my car in a white-lined space; then, one night, they come by and paint over the white lines with blue ones,” he said in the video. “Obviously, they couldn’t paint underneath my car — or anyone else’s — so the white lines I parked in are now blue,” he added.
Angeloni Was Fuming at the Situation
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“The result? A nice fat fine. Fantastic, right? We’re in a fantastic city,” added the Italian, sarcastically. The parking attendant, perhaps not noticing how fresh the blue lines were, simply gave the Italian a parking ticket. It’s one thing to have parked in the spot after the lines had been painted, but it’s very different if they are placed there after you have parked.
Logically, it would dictate that the repainting is done AFTER the car in question has left the space. It is unknown if Angeloni has contested the fine from the City Council of Rome, although we imagine he was at the very least thinking about it. A viewer of the video commented by saying, “The wheel is on the white one; you don’t have to pay.” Incredibly, Angeloni’s video has been viewed over one million times on Instagram.