Many Athenians have paid illegal parking fines since the controlled parking system has started. Citizens, who have paid an amount not corresponding to the one in the Traffic Regulation, can get their money back. Regional, municipal, and mayoral councils are not allowed to set the amount of the fines given to the violators, who have parked their cars in the forbidden zones. Fine are set only according to the Traffic Regulation, which was accepted under the Law 2696/99.

This was approved by the Government Council and partly played as an approval to a lawyers’ claim, who wished decision 738/2006 of the Municipal Council of Athens to be void. The decision stated that the amount of a fine for wrongful parking should be 23 Euros. In more detail, the Government Council with decision 3266/08 adjudicated that with the application of the Traffic Regulation from 1999 the regional, municipal, and mayoral councils are allowed to denote the controlled parking spots with the

sign.

Besides this right, they can also put a parking fee, but the fines given for wrongful parking are determined by the Traffic Regulation. The old 1984 regulation, which allowed the municipal councils to determine the parking fees as well as the fines, is not valid since the new one came into effect during 1999.

When the lawyer put the claim from his clients’ name, who was fined wrongly, the fines were 15,5 Euros, but the decision of the Municipal Council made him pay 23 Euros for wrongful parking.