Are the fines levied by the Car Parks Foundation legal?
Are the fines levied by the Car Parks Foundation legal?
Does the car parks foundation have the authority to impose parking fines on pavements which, according to my research, are not part of the public domain? I was fined when my vehicle was parked on a pedestrian strip on a private plot. Is this normal?
C. Geneva
Under Geneva's Law on the Fondation des Parkings, the State encourages the construction of car parks in order to promote travel policy. The management of the car parks is entrusted to the Fondation des Parkings, which is an autonomous body governed by public law. The Conseil d'Etat has the power to set the conditions under which the Fondation des Parkings may control vehicle parking by means of an agreement with the municipalities concerned and the Fondation des Parkings. The Fondation des Parkings is therefore responsible for managing parking on public roads in the canton of Geneva.
The concept of a public road is governed by the Federal Road Traffic Act (LCR) and its ordinances. The Federal Court explains that a broad concept of a public road should be adopted, the determining factor not being whether the surface of a road open to traffic is in private or public ownership, but whether it is used for general traffic and whether its use is possible for an indeterminate number of people. Consequently, a pavement or pedestrian walkway that is not bounded by any obstacles and is used for ordinary traffic must be considered public. The Fondation des Parkings is therefore entitled to impose penalties for unlawful behaviour, particularly if the vehicle in question obstructs pedestrians.
In addition, it is interesting to note that there are companies that can be commissioned to monitor the use of private parking spaces. The owner of a building can sign a contract with one of these surveillance companies to ensure that no opportunists take advantage of the spaces reserved for residents of the building, and to report offenders to the authorities so that they can be fined.
For example, the fact that a property is private within the meaning of civil law is not sufficient to spare oneself a log, insofar as the rules on road traffic apply even on private land that is accessible to the public.
