A Belgian politician has just exposed the illegal actions of Belgian bailiffs passing on contact details of Belgian vehicles to British debt collection agencies in respect of unpaid traffic fines incurred in the UK. He deliberately got himself fined and refused to pay. Case hinged on passing EU personal data to a non-EU country. Interesting implications …
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sounds interesting… and here’s the link…
Stella
I see you already posted a link. I read it in Flemish press so so you beat me to it before I could translate into English.
Yes, please… let’s have that link…
We’ve been debating this here for a while and knew some bastards were breaking the data protection laws. Well done to this Belgian politician, but Relias are not alone. There was some talk of an Italian firm also being in cahoots with the ULEZ debt collectors as well and submitting requests to the French authorities for details. Whoever’s guilt, the process in France of chasing them down is taking far too long. These firms must be fined the maximum possible PER breech and their principals criminally charged pour discourager les autres. Otherwise, a mockery is being made of EU data protection laws.
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thanks for the link…
As I prefer to read in the original language, then see how the translation compares… 
In the original it mentions that he did it on behalf of Jewish constituents who travel a lot between here, Antwerp, and the UK and had been hit by unexpected fines and charges.
In this instance, I think the “translation” offered in Brusseltimes… didn’t do too badly… it gives the idea of what’s going-on.
“I was told by several people that they received excessively high fines from London,” he is quoted in Het Nieuwsblad.
and, although in the GVA Flemish Press link… he does say that large numbers of Jewish people go back and forth to UK… he certainly doesn’t say that they are the only ones being targeted …
Plus, I notice he is vague about who has actually contacted him (complaining) about these fines.
Therefore I think the Brusseltimes reported fairly enough… on behalf of ALL Belgians.
That’s just my own view on this…
phew, that was quite fun… and gives me a topic to discuss with my belgian friends…
Stella
The initial report was from the GZA, the Gazet van Antwerpen, the local daily paper. It mentions that the MP is from NV-A, the ruling party here and the leader of which Bart de Wever is the mayor of Antwerp. There is a sizable Orthodox Jewish community in Antwerp, originally based around the diamond trade, but now more diverse. Whilst the MP pursued the case, with much difficulty it seems, on behalf of all Belgians, it surely has wider implications across the EU. Note that the Belgian bailiffs have been penalised by losing access to the Belgian drivers/vehicles database and that news will spread in their professional community, apart from being seen by other EU legal institutions who may well send out specific warning notices to collection agencies. So I am sure that drivers of French cars in the UK will benefit as well.
Best regards
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Not that I am ever likely to infringe the ULEZ regs, but never say never, how do you know that you have to pay and how do you do it?
For those who wish to register their vehicle with TfL this link will help
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You bring up a good point. For a visitor, especially one who does not read english well, it is difficult to drive and take in the sign-boarded instructions and remember the website url.
It matters not, imo, the differences in reporting the situation detail in minor languages, the main gist is common: that a Belgian MP highlighted the sharing of personal information outside the EU.
Well done him.
However he, and others if the case, should not knowingly incur a charge in a foreign country in full knowledge that you will not pay it. If I went to his miserable constituency, incurred a motoring charge and refused to pay it, he would, I bet, be the first to sqeel like a stuck pig.
There is good case though to give a foreigner the benefit of doubt that s/he, like David above, might be confused and politely ask for the payment via paypal. Refusal after this, the car will be put on the APNR database, then allowing the police to collect a la style francaise - frogmarched to an ATM!
Ok, so the offender sells the car, yes problems! But you get the gist!
Good stuff. If one abuses a privilege it should be revoked. I wonder if the TfL ULEZ debt collectors will be sanctioned? I doubt it.
Anybody planning to drive in a city anywhere should make themselves aware of the restrictions and ensure they are complement. As I did last week for Pisa, Como and Milan.
The issue here is that ULEZ debt collectors have used EU based companies to breach our data privacy laws. That’s the only issue.
Of course, but how else to get to the bottom of this outrage? He had to be an “interested” party get the FOI on who accessed his data. This is serious stuff, you seem to have a wishywashy approach to data privacy. The actual fine is neither here nor there, it is our data being shared with unauthorised scumbag debt collectors (I think all debt collectors are scumbags🙁) in the UK that is the problem. Where does that end?
I read the original comment as meaning one should not break the rules with impunity when abroad, thinking it didn’t matter because they can’t catch you.
Goodness me ! this is getting a bit heated…
I thought (rightly or wrongly) that the MP was doing his own research… like some journalists do… in order to get to the truth of a situation, before bellowing loud and clearly about injustice/wrong-doing …
Yes, that goes without saying, but the politician incurrred the fine for a specific purpose, to uncover the criminality going on. It was a sting, in effect.
The core issue here is that the ULEZ debt collectors are knowingly braking EU law, and firms in the EU with privileged access to personal data are in cahoots with them. That is very, very serious. We can’t legitimately bash Facebook, Twitter, etc for breaching our rules when our own companies are actually committing arguably worse infringements.
Half time rugby 
I remember years ago going into one of the French coastal towns and asking a policeman where to park and he said I could stay where I was as they couldn’t give me an enforceable ticket anyway, so I did just that what a treat guess it’ll be the same now going back to UK in French reg vehicle
And that seemed to be precisely their point. We need a shrug smiley.
Now the lead story in The Guardian this morning. Much bigger and worse than when I first posted last October.