Did the Salzburg Police Just Rob Me?
Hello!
I’m a tourist who visited Salzburg for the day but just had a few unusual experiences. Please see below for the series of events.
I drop off my wife and daughter to do a “The Sound of Music” tour.
Because we woke up early to drive from Tyrol, I drive a couple of blocks away and take a nap in the rental car.
I wake up to A FUCKING BUS SIDESWIPING MY CAR.
The bus driver and I take photos, etc. and he leaves.
I spend 60 minutes trying to get my phone to work in Austria to call the rental car company. They tell me to call the police to get a police report.
The police show up, check my breath for alcohol, try to determine if different police already filled out a police report and tell me that I’m facing a penalty because I don’t have an international driver’s license.
They tell me if I want a police report, it will cost roughly €40. The license penalty is €400. They only accept cash because “Salzburg is not that futuristic”.
After confirming that I have no cash, they guide me to 2 different ATM’s to get cash. Because €400 is the limit.
After I was only able to extract €400, they called their boss to confirm that it was acceptable. It was.
They take me back to their police station where I handed them the cash, then I sat in a front room for 10 minutes, they give me a couple of German forms with my name misspelled, and come out to tell me that I can maybe get my money back.
They gave me receipts for the cash. Which I was surprised by. Though, the quantities were lower than they originally told me. The end.
This all felt very odd and I was just curious. Do cops normally escort people to banks to take out cash for minor penalties? They took my cash but still haven’t sent me the police report, a few hours later.