Catalan cops in ITV clampdown: government claims it’s for road safety

The Catalan transport authority (Servei Català de Trànsit) last week put into service twenty cameras capable of reading the number plates of cars driving without a valid ITV. Nineteen of the devices are fixed, with the remaining one installed in a car used by the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan police force. Owners of cars used on the road without having passed the ITV inspection face a €100 fine.

While the Servei Català de Trànsit claims it is acting because of safety concerns, the reality is that the Generalitat needs money as Madrid is slow at paying what Catalonia is due. It seems to me that this is the real reason behind trying to fine more drivers.

Catalonia has recently come under criticism for the number of police roadblocks. While the police have, apparently, managed to reduce violent robberies in the province of Girona over the last year after a spate of break ins, there has been a clamp down on ITV checks recently. The two cars we own both have a current ITV and insurance and I don’t appreciate being stopped at police roadblocks for something that is so trivial.

The Mossos are deliberately setting out to intimidate, which smacks of a police state.

Source: Diari de Girona

Tags: ITV, Mossos, Police, socialmedia, Transport