They had apparently been dumped by delivery personnel working for CI Postal, the company in charge of distributing notifications of traffic fines. A reason given was that the employees were under huge pressure to make deliveries - more than 1,000 letters and notifications per day.
In May 2023, the town hall set out tougher specifications for the delivery contract. Correos (the Post Office) handled these on a temporary basis. In May this year, CI Postal was fined 186,600 euros by Spain's National Markets and Competition Commission because of the failure to meet terms of the delivery contract. Another company, Hispapost, was fined 44,000 euros. The commission took account of more than 6,000 undelivered letters.
In 2022 there were reports about the non-delivery of notifications and people getting nasty shocks when they were later advised of higher fines for non-payment.
All the problems were supposedly a thing of the past. But the experience of at least one Palma resident suggests they are not. Pensioner Joan Ferrer lives in Sant Jordi. He is running out of time in appealing a traffic fine for a speeding offence - his son was driving the car - in February this year. According to the town hall, he was sent the notification in April. He says that he didn't receive it until August. It was for 1,200 euros and there was no option of a 50% discount for early payment.
Ever since August he has been battling with the town hall to at least allow him to pay a discounted fine. The town hall maintains that the fine notification was handled correctly in April and with the discount option for payment within 20 days. Delivery company records indicate that attempts to deliver the notification in person were made on April 22 and 25.
He categorically denies this and also a claim that the company had knocked on his door and left a note in his letter box. Joan insists he was in on both those dates. His wife was unwell at the time and they weren't going out. "We never received anything on those dates; nothing until August. I don't know what to do or where to turn. I feel abandoned by my own town hall."
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