Court bans app that prevents parking fines in Amsterdam lawsuit

On Monday, the court banned the app Parkeerwekker in a lawsuit filed by the municipality of Amsterdam. The court ruled in the municipality's favor, agreeing that the app facilitates tax evasion, NU.nl reports.

Parkeerwekker sends motorists an alert when a municipal scan car passes their parked car. The motorist then has five minutes to quickly pay their parking before they get fined. The app charged 1.49 euros per alert.

According to the municipality, the app was guilty of privacy violations and incited tax evasion, arguing that motorists who use the app would not pay parking at all unless they receive an alert that they were about to be fined. Parkeerwekker argued that it only aimed to provide a solution for users who forgot to pay their parking fees.

The court agreed with the municipality and ruled that Parkeerwekker encouraged the unlawful behavior of not paying parking fees and thus facilitated tax evasion by "forgetful" motorists.