In Nanaimo, a city in British Columbia, Canada, a woman was almost fined CA$81 ($64/£45) when she left her car parked with its windows open in 2012. The law states: “Cars parked in public places must have their windows down to less than the width of a hand.” The school worker had not realised the law existed, and had left her car's windows open in her school car parking space because of hot weather. However, in this instance the police officer reduced the fine to a warning. The same rule applies in Australia, where leaving your window open just a few centimetres can cost you several hundred dollars in most states.
It may not be the most conventional way to spend a weekend, but naked hiking in the Alps has become a popular hobby among those who like to go au naturel. But in 2010 one hiker was reported to the authorities after he walked naked past a family picnic area and a Christian drug rehabilitation centre in the deeply devout region of Appenzell, eastern Switzerland. He was fined 100 francs ($92/£62) as a result, which, despite an appeal, was upheld. While public nudity is not against the law in Switzerland, public indecency is, and this ruling allowed local authorities to fine the sport if they deemed it to be the latter.
Often thought of as pigeons' aggressive seaside equivalent, seagulls have a reputation for food snatching. Tourist boards in the UK decided they’d had enough of the birds’ antics as the behaviour was putting off visitors, and so a ban on feeding them was enforced under the powers of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. Anybody caught slipping seagulls a nibble of sandwich or chip could face a fixed £100 ($140) penalty.
China has strict rules on what can be accessed via the internet, and platforms such as Facebook, as well as search engines including Google, are banned. In fact, ‘The Great Firewall of China’ currently blocks more than 8,000 sites. To get around these restrictions, it’s not uncommon for locals and tourists alike to download a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which disguises your location. However, VPN use is technically not allowed and police are starting to crack down. In 2019, a man from Guangdong caught using VPNs to access banned websites was fined 1,000 yuan ($149/£113).
In normal times, Spain is inundated with tourists looking to soak up the sun during their summer getaway. But holidaymakers need to beware of how they dress when driving in the country, because you’re not allowed to drive a car without wearing a shirt or barefoot or even wearing flip-flops. Doing so could lead to a fine of €200 ($240/£172), regardless of the temperature outside. And that's not the only way drivers can be fined in Spain. People who put drive with an arm or hand out of their car window risk being fined €100 ($120/£86).
Another fine that will impact tourists can be found in Italy. Authorities from the coasts of Tuscany to Sardinia are cracking down on tourists who try to snag a prime beach spot by leaving items out on sun loungers overnight. Those who do face fines of €200 ($240/£172).
Residents in the Italian city of Turin are big animal lovers. So much so that, in 2005, the city’s council introduced a new law that requires dog owners to walk their four-legged friends at least three times a day. If they fail to take their tail-waggers for a trot, they’ll be hit with a €500 ($600/£432) fine. When Italy was under strict lockdown because of the pandemic residents were only allowed out of their homes for limited reasons and had to have a form with them explaining why they were outside. Dog walking was one of the legitimate reasons Italians could have for venturing outside, but many regions limited those walks to 200 metres from a person's home.
English speakers enjoy the simplicity of using the word ‘you’ for both casual and formal situations. However, languages such as German have two different ways of addressing people: informally (du), and formally (Sie). If you use the informal 'du' when speaking to somebody in a position of authority such as a teacher, an elder, or a police officer, it can cause offence. And so if you intentionally use ‘du’ to be disrespectful, you could find yourself slapped with a fine of up to €600 ($723/£518).
In the US city of Los Angeles it’s illegal to use silly string – but only on Halloween. Since 2004, authorities have outlawed the colourful, sticky stuff between 12am on 31 October 31 and 12pm on 1 November. The reason? City officials were sick of cleaning up the mess that would cover LA every time the spooky season struck. So if you’re caught brandishing a can of silly string on Halloween in LA, you could find yourself $1,000 (£718) out of pocket.
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In Australia, as part of food regulations that came into effect after the Great Depression and World War II, restrictions were placed on how many potatoes you could move around in your car at any one time. Many years later and the potato penalty is still in place – more than 50kg of spuds in your car without the right licence could land you with a AU$2,000 ($1.6k/£1.1k) fine, with repeat offenders then having to pay out AU$5,000 ($3.9k/£2.8k) for their vegetable villainy.
The coronavirus pandemic has also seen a lot of new fines instated across the world, and while there are similarities across many countries, each nation has its own take on what is considered to be a finable offence. Austria, for example, tentatively reopened its shops in December following a period of lockdown, but there were strings attached. To prevent the spread of infection, shopkeepers have to be mindful of the number of people they allow into their businesses and breaching the limitations can lead to a fine of up to €3,600 ($4.4k/£3.1k).
Normally if you spit on the sidewalk in the Australian city of Brisbane, you could be slapped with a AU$5,000 ($4k/£2.8k) fine. But in light of the coronavirus pandemic that fine has now gone up to a maximum of AU$13,000 ($10.4k/£7.3k) if directed at another person. In February, a man was charged for threatening to spit on a member of staff working at a quarantine hotel. It also includes banning the cricketing tradition of using saliva or sweat to shine the ball.
Existing German law conflicts with the government’s current health recommendations when it comes to wearing a mask in public. In April last year, it became a legal requirement to wear face coverings on public transport and in shops to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and those failing to follow the rules could face fines of up to €10,000 ($12.2k/£8.6k). But there are also laws in place forbidding mask-wearing at gatherings, such as protests (like the one pictured), so that it is easier to identify who is taking part. Prior to the pandemic people wearing a mask could go to prison for up to one year, but as the coronavirus crisis continues mask-wearing has become not only the norm, but a legal necessity.
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Seeing a whale trapped in a shark net just off of Australia’s Gold Coast in May last year, an onlooker decided to make a rescue attempt to free the animal. He successfully set the mammal free with a knife, but then revealed he was fined more than AU$26,900 (US$17.7k/£14.4k) by Australian authorities, although it's not clear whether this was because he broke the law in terms of damaging government property or moving too close to whales, both of which are offences, or for doing both. A fundraising campaign was started to generate the money to pay the fine, but the whale rescuer was eventually let off. The AU$16,971 ($13.2k/£9.5k) raised was donated to ocean conservation charity Sea Shepherd.
In 1979 a strict one-child policy was put in place in China, allowing each family to have just one baby as the country struggled with a surging population. This was changed to a two-child limit four years ago, to address the country’s ageing population. Families can have more children, but at a cost. One couple in the country’s Guangdong province faced a “social support fee” of 320,000 yuan ($49.5k/£35.5k) for having a third child in May last year, even thought the family only has a monthly income of 10,000 yuan ($1.5k/£1.1k). In the same province Zhang Rongrong and her husband have spent more than one million yuan ($155k/£111k) to bring seven children into the world.
For many countries Sunday is traditionally a day of rest, and traces of that tradition can still be found in modern-day life in Germany. Most shops shut for the day, and you shouldn’t spend the day doing any kind of work or making noise. The day is instead reserved for Ruhezeit or 'quiet time'. Activities like mowing your lawn, loud DIY such as using a chainsaw, or even washing your car should be saved for the other six days of the week, unles you quickly want to make enemies of your neighbours and potentially face being fined up to €50,000 ($60.3k/£43.2k).
In 2013, China introduced a new law that states it is a crime for adult children not to visit their parents "often". According to the Law of Protection of Rights and Interests of the Aged, if you don’t visit your elderly parents – classified as anyone over 60 – and meet their "spiritual needs", you could face fines and be placed on a credit score blacklist, making it difficult to obtain a credit card or loan in the future.
In Canada, there are limits on how many coins you can use to buy something. The 1985 Currency Act states that there are different restrictions based on the kind of coins you're looking to pay with, for example you can only use a maximum of 25 loonies (the Canadian dollar coin) in one transaction. The exact amount a person can be fined is undisclosed, but you do have the law on your side if you're stuck in a queue waiting for somebody to count their small change for a big purchase.
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