Disappearing hire car - a cautionary tale 🙂

[Lorenzo]

My neighbours have a hire for their Easter break here. They usually park somewhere near Carrer Pescador or in the upper part of Carrer Pescador where parking is allowed.
By Sunday morning it had disappeared from Carrer Pescador & they assumed it had been stolen. A lot of head scratching ensued & then we were almost mowed down by the half- marathon runners running at a fast pace down Calle Pescador plus the cars & motorcyclists doing the filming of the event.
A helpful local neighbour suggested we ring the local police to report the theft. When we did, we discovered that they had craned it away to the police pound but wouldn't say where that was. So we caught a taxi to Pollença where a very helpful police lady informed us that the hire car was in the compound in Puerto Pollensa. So another taxi ride back to the port to the Police compound which is now adjacent to the football ground. Amazingly the huge gate was unlocked so we retrieved the car. There were several others there so were not the only ones who had been caught out. A fine of 40 euros was on the paperwork which was fluttering under the windscreen wiper.
My understanding of cars being towed or craned away is that the local police are normally required to leave a notice on the pavement where the car was removed from. There wasn't anything to alert my neighbours about what had happened to their car.

 

[PPToni]

We're living on Paseo de Voramar at the moment (backing on to Carrer del Pescador) and from Thursday there were signs put at the ends of the road warning that parking was prohibited from 8am Sunday morning due to the marathon. We moved our car to the Formentor Road on Saturday night as we had a feeling the police would be patrolling. Agree that the police should have indicated what had happened to their car though

 

[Lorenzo]

The driver had come in via the road next to the Pines cafe. With no spaces in the little road, he reversed into the space in Calle Pescador. Ok, against the rules but quite common practice around here. Sadly no signage at all there. We did see signage you mention at the beginning of the street when we went for a walk the following day.

Quite often people who come to visit from time to time, leave their cars parked in the local streets. It's tricky to know if a race of any sort will pass that way - and cause your car to be towed or craned away.

 

[bobley]

I noticed a bright green sticker on a drain pipe up the street earlier. It said Grua Mallorca on it with a hand written registration number. I guess someone got towed for parking in front of a Vado.

Meanwhile, now the tourists are here they are hellbent on jamming their cars right against my front door. The locals all park well away but tourists don't think twice about blocking me into ( or out of) my house. Does anyone have information about applying for a Vado. I did some googling and found the costs but no details on how you apply. I had a walk around town 2 days back and I only found 1 other none garage access with a Vado ( someone's back gate).

 

[Lorenzo]

My sister got her Vado Permanent sign from Pollença Town Council for her garage. Our solicitor/gestor arranged it all for her. There is an annual charge for displaying the sign.

 

[bobley]

I spoke to a friendly police lady this morning. She said, if someone blocks the only way into your home they can come sort it out. Basically, you're entitled to be able to use your own door... almost a Vado.

I found the blurb on the council website. A vehicular access starts from €105 a year (more for multi car garages) , other forms of access are charged at €26/meter. There's a €20 on off fee for the sign too.