Amsterdam using wheel clamps to force foreigners to pay parking fines

Amsterdam is bringing back wheel clamps in an effort to force foreign tourists to pay their parking fines. A large number of foreign offenders come from countries with which there is no agreements on exchanging address information, the Telegraaf reports.

This means that when these tourists return to their home countries, the municipality has no way of finding them. The debt is cancelled and Amsterdam loses out on the money.

According to the newspaper, this amounts to millions of euros annually. According to Amsterdam alderman for Traffic Pieter Lijtens, some tourists deliberately ignore parking rules.

"The foreigners sometimes knowingly do not pay for parking because they know that the debt is not collected in their country. Such information is shared on the internet", he said to the newspaper.