Curfew violators escape consequences after hundreds of fines accidentally shredded

Hundreds of people who violated the curfew no longer have to pay the fines they received during last year's curfew. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) accidentally tore them up, according to AD.

By the time the error was discovered, between 900 and 1,200 dismissals had been sent to violators. These represent about 1 percent of all curfew fines issued. However, according to the prosecutor's office, the exact number cannot be determined.

The fines were classified wrong and the dismissals were a mistake, OM spokeswoman Marloes van Kessel told AD. The curfew fines were wrongly marked as dismissed during the elimination of the huge stock of fines that had accumulated, among other things, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the OM's letter, "the importance of prosecution in connection with the long time after the crime has become too small." Those involved no longer owe the 95 euro fine plus a 9 euro administrative fee.

The OM is now making every effort to have the contested fines that have not yet expired reviewed by a judge before the statute of limitations expires, AD reports. People whose fines have already been cancelled are in luck, as the decision cannot be reversed.