Flat broke: Delinquent bills could mean deflated tires
http://www.dw.com/en/flat-broke-delinquent-bills-could-mean-deflated-tires/a-18793170
Cities in Germany routinely send out reminders to citizens in arrears with debts and payments. As a last resort, some clamp a treacherous device to tire valves, causing flats.
Flat broke: Delinquent bills could mean deflated tires
Dagmar Breitenbach
20.10.2015
German car owners who owe their cities money - for dog licenses, automobile taxes, child support payments, parking tickets, or TV and radio license fees, for examples - should keep an eye on their tires if the payment reminders start stacking up.
Some morning, they could find a bright yellow device attached to the valve of one of the tires, in addition to a sticker on the door lock and a warning note on the windshield telling them that, if they move the car, their tire will gradually deflate, going completely flat within 600 meters (2,000 feet).
Dresden started using the plug devices 10 years ago, city spokesman Karl Schuricht told DW. With the help of the valve guards, the eastern city impounded 67 vehicles in 2014 and has towed 63 vehicles to the yard so far this year, but "only in cases when debtors, often multiple debtors, didn't pay their debt despite several demand notes," he said.
Risky method
What has proved to be an efficient and inexpensive collection method for often hard-up German cities can potentially lead to accidents. And critics say a note of warning on the windshield isn't enough.