Tourist pays 57p fine 50 years after parking illegally on holiday
An American tourist who was fined for parking a Vespa on a no stopping zone while on holiday in Italy 50 years ago has finally paid the 57p fine.
Robert Atherton sent a letter of apology and $50 to the mayor of Lerici, a town in northern Italy.
The tourist was on holiday in 1964 when he received the fine for illegally parking his Vespa but forgot to pay the 1,000 lire fine, The Local reports.
Atherton, from Phoenix, Arizona, sent $50 to the mayor to "make up for forgetfulness".
New York Daily News reports that Atherton, who had even calculated how much the fine would cost today, had stumbled across the parking ticket recently.
Mayor Marco Caluri said the tourist's gesture of goodwill was "exemplary".
Speaking to Il Gazzettino, he said: "I thank Mr Atherton on my own behalf and on behalf of the town and I will not forget to write back to him, to thank him personally for his honesty."
In 2013, an American woman received an eye-watering $105,000 parking fine after her car was left abandoned at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Jennifer Fitzgerald, an unemployed single mum, was the recipient of the city's highest ever parking fine to date.
But she claims that the purple Chevrolet was registered in her name without her permission by her ex-boyfriend.
Fitzgerald sued over the fines and ended up settling with the city out of court, ultimately paying $4,500 for the original bill.
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