The curtain falls on the dictatorship of coins. From today, fines for parking without a ticket in the blue lines are not valid if the parking meter does not allow you to pay with an ATM. This was established by a justice of the peace of Fondi (province of Latina), a certain Giovanni Pesce, writing that "in the absence of devices equipped with ATMs, motorists will be considered authorized to park for free and without the risk of being fined". And the decision can have a cascading effect because it is jurisprudence.
In truth, many apps have existed for some time that allow you to pay for parking digitally, but it is clear that the law cannot oblige citizens to have a smartphone and an account on the website of a private company. So far, therefore, from the point of view of the state, motorists had only one option: to check that they have loose change in their pockets before getting behind the wheel. No coins? No parking. Or fine.
Now many hope that Fondi's sentence will soon become a pilot sentence also in the rest of Italy. If so, the situation will be reversed to the detriment of the municipalities, because it will be the mayors' obligation to equip themselves to give citizens the opportunity to pay with ATMs. Administrations that will not do so will simply no longer be able to cash in on the fines.
Moreover, the 2016 stability law imposed that from last July XNUMX parking meters must be enabled for payments with debit and credit cards. So far many municipalities have spoken of "technical impossibility", but starting today they will have to deal with a paradigm shift. No ATM? No fine.
