Residents of Gimonäs in Umeå received a parking fine - after 42 years

On the surface outside Harald Holmström's and Britt-Inger Rydfjäll's farm, they have set up various vehicles such as motorhomes, trailers and visitors' cars.

- Since they redesigned the sidewalk here, you are not allowed to park along the road. If you want it, you must call the municipality before 3 pm and ask for a temporary permit, says Britt-Inger Rydfjäll.

Britt-Inger Rydfjäll says that she received an oral permit from a municipal employee when she moved into the house in 1978, who promised that they could use the plot between her and the neighbor's house as they wanted as long as the municipality had access to the sewer located there.

Umeå Municipality's street operations manager Per Hilmersson is not aware of any oral agreement from the 1970s.

- You may have made a special agreement when the block was built, but that does not apply now in any case, he says.

In recent years, Umeå Municipality has expanded the areas where parking is prohibited.

- This has been done because traffic has increased. It is to improve cleaning, plowing and sanding, says Per Hilmersson.

But the reason why the couple Rydfjäll / Holmström were fined was that the vehicles were parked in terrain, which is prohibited according to the national traffic ordinance.

Hear Harald Holmström talk about the fine in the clip above.

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