Tourists owe Norway NOK 71 million

Timely, the Swedish Tax Agency dispels the myth that tourists fail to pay the fines and parking fees they receive when they are on holiday in Norway.

TRAVEL: West Lofoten's only parking attendant is in a hurry to fine tourists who park illegally. Photo: Roy Arne Salater / TV 2

- Between 10 and 15 claims come in every single day with unpaid parking fines and fees that the tourists have not paid, says Dag Hugo Olsen.
He is the general manager of the car rental company Hertz in Lofoten and has between 140 and 150 cars distributed in Leknes and Svolvær.
- Is it busy?
- Yes very. Pretty much all cars have been out this summer. I don't think there have ever been so many people in Lofoten. It is extreme, says Olsen.
In the past, it was the case that the occasional unpaid parking fine ticked in for the rental car companies.
Now the situation is completely different.

HAILING IN: Dag Hugo Olsen at Hertz in Lofoten has to spend a lot of time tracking down tourists who don't pay fees or parking fines. Photo: Run Gyllander Eide / TV 2.

Close the credit cardsUnpaid parking fees and fines are ultimately the responsibility of the rental car companies to pay.
- This is the only fee the authority can impose on someone who has done nothing illegal. They cannot charge us for speeding fines, or if a car is not in good enough technical condition, that is the driver's responsibility. But parking fines in particular have been found to be too difficult to collect from those who have rented a car. That responsibility is passed on to us as car owners, says Olsen.

- Don't most tourists pay with credit cards?
- The problem is that many people close the card immediately when they leave Norway. Then we have no opportunity to charge them, says Olsen.

It is not a small matter that tourists owe the Norwegian state in unpaid fines and fees.

- At the end of June 2024, we had NOK 71 million outstanding for the types of claims, simplified notices and traffic fines (fees) imposed by the police for violations of the traffic rules by such tourists.
- We assume that by "tourist" here we mean a natural person without a Norwegian birth number and with an address in a country other than Norway, says Stian Solheim, head of section in the legal staff, collection division at the Norwegian Tax Agency.