Law professor: "Unreasonable to put all the risk on the motorist"

SVT's consumer editorial Plus reports on German Sabine Middendorf, who ended up in the Swedish Supreme Court after the police appealed the case with her parking fine. She paid for herself and keyed in her German registration number with a hyphen between the blocks - which the police considered was incorrect.

At the same time as Sabine Middendorf's case, two similar cases will also be brought before the Supreme Court in April.

Boel Flodgren is a professor of commercial law at Lund University, and has immersed himself in the Swedish parking system.

"It is unreasonable to place the entire risk that the technology will not cope with minor errors in the driver's lock-in," she says of Sabine and the other motorists' legal processes.

- Our parking rules came into existence before today's debit card and apps came into being and the responsibility is put on the driver, as soon as the technology does not give the parking supervisor enough information.

Boel Flodgren is also critical of how the entire Swedish parking system is structured. A system that she believes is based on outdated laws and which has far too little consumer protection built into itself.

- We need to modernize the system, because what the courts and parking companies are adjusting to today feels very old-fashioned, says Boel Flodgren to Plus (who will continue to review the Swedish parking system).