Digital parking fines twice as likely to go unpaid, Ombudsman urges paper notices
People who receive parking fines in their digital inbox on MijnOverheid are twice as likely to miss the payment deadline compared with those who get fines by post, figures from municipalities show. According to NOS, the Dutch National Ombudsman is calling for an end to digital fine delivery.
Many residents are unaware that parking fines arrive through MijnOverheid, do not check the inbox, or have outdated email addresses. According to NOS, some rack up dozens of fines within weeks, totaling thousands of euros.
In Amsterdam, 36 percent of people who received a digital parking fine later got a payment warning, compared with 20 percent of those who received fines by post. In Almelo, Enschede, Hengelo and Oldenzaal, the share was 28 percent digitally versus 13 percent on paper.
“Water boards, the Employee Insurance Agency, everything goes digital these days,” Munish Ramlal, ombudsman for the Amsterdam metropolitan area, told NOS. “Almost half of the Dutch miss such a message at least once. Not everyone is equally skilled digitally. Especially with additional assessments such as parking fines, the amounts can be high for small mistakes.”
Since 2014, citizens have been able to choose to receive only digital mail from municipalities, the tax authority, or water boards. More than six million people have reportedly activated the option. Parking fines are also sent digitally if cooperation bodies such as Belastingsamenwerking Utrecht, Noordelijk Belastingskantoor, GBTwente, or GR Concensus were selected.
“People often don’t know exactly what they once consented to in MijnOverheid,” said National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen. “They also don’t know what MijnOverheid does, like sending parking fines. Research shows that many people only look at it once every six months.”
Of the 31 largest municipalities contacted by NOS, 11 said they send fines digitally if residents opted in. Only Amsterdam, Eindhoven, and the Gemeentelijk Belasting Kantoor Twente, which covers Almelo, Enschede, Hengelo, and Oldenzaal, provided figures. Eindhoven said the gap between digital and paper reminders has narrowed since 2023. Haarlemmermeer refused to cooperate with NOS.
MijnOverheid users are supposed to get email notifications when new messages arrive, but more than 10 percent of the platform’s 11 million users do not. According to the Ministry of the Interior, about 770,000 never verified an email address, and another 480,000 opted out of notifications.
“If you indicate you do not want notifications, you are warned about the consequences,” a ministry spokesperson said. “That warning tells users they must log in regularly.”
Even when notifications are sent, they do not specify that the message is a fine. “At the very least, it should say that it is a fine,” Van Zutphen told NOS.
Amsterdam confirmed the ministry is preparing new wording. “The new text will include a date by which the recipient must take action. We want to align with that,” a spokesperson said.
