What happened before
In the previous episode, we saw how our courageous hero Henk was fighting with the demons of administration, trying to renew his parking permit ("bewonerskaart") at Parko, the parking service of the city Kortrijk.
Bold and unafraid, he went to the counter countless times, made dozens of phone calls, and appeared to make some progress.
Most readers would think he has been successful at his mission and the issue is cleared up by now.
But alas...
The horror continues.
Note: This is a very long post, but i think it's worth reading to the end.
As explained in the previous entry, on friday 9 April, i went to Parko with the contract for renting my appartment. This should prove that i do actually live here.
After studying my contract for 2 weeks, they called me to say it was not valid. Because it had an end date, and this end date was in the past.
In Belgium, a rental contract is made for a fixed period of time, and is then silently prolongued until one party cancels it.
Unfortunately, the Parko people didn't seem to know how things work here.
I got this phone call on friday 23 April.
The lady on the phone said that the head of the service was responsible and she could do nothing.
Classical example of the umbrella system: Don't ask me, go to someone else.
The next monday (26 April), i went back there, and asked if i could see this head of the service who seems to decide on everything.
This caused some panic of course, and i was asked to call back the next day and ask for Mike Rude (*), the head inspector of the police, who would come to my house and see if i do actually live there.
So i called back on tuesday. I had the same lady from the day before on the phone, and asked if she could pass me on to this head inspector.
She did make a very bad mistake: She forgot to put her phone on mute, so that i could hear the conversations.
I could hear that this head inspector was not willing to come to the phone, and heard her say:
"Oh come on Mike, i promised that we would get this sorted out!"
After all this insisting, the head inspector agreed to come to the phone. I could hear that i was connected, but he didn't bother to say good morning or anything else, just silence.
I then had a phone conversation along these lines:
HD:
Good morning, Mr. Rude. I assume you have been told what my problem is?
MR:
<silence for a moment>
Yes.
<silence for a moment>
[on a rude tone] Well where do you live now?
HD:
I live in the St.-Niklaasstraat.
MR:
But your official address is in Zwevegem?
HD:
Yes, my official address is still where my parents live.
MR:
Get that changed.
HD:
Well, i still see this as a temporary solution, i don't plan to live here for ever, and i really don't want to go through all this hassle if it's not necessary.
But what i wanted to talk about was the parking permit.
MR:
You have to change your address to get that.
HD:
So why was i asked for my rental contract then?
MR:
Get your address changed, then you can come back.
Goodbye.
<click>
Of course i will not let any head inspector of the police talk rude to me, nor accept that he refuses to help or even answer my questions.
So i waited a little bit to think what i could do best, and decided to write a letter.
The next week, i wrote a very polite registered letter to Mike Rude, with copy to the head of the police, the director of Parko, and the political responsible.
I said that i considered my parking permit valid now, because i had done everything that had been asked from me, including showing a valid rental contract that prooves that i live there.
I also included some basic principles that should be followed during a phone conversation, such as beginning the conversation with a short greeting instead of a long silence, being polite, and not abruptly ending the phone conversation and throwing the phone down.
Last week, on tuesday 18 May, i received an answer from the political responsible, saying that i could not get a parking permit, because my official address is not in Kortrijk, that this had been explained to me numerous times, and that Mr. Mike Rude had also explained this to me once more.
This was the first time i was officially told that something was wrong with my parking permit and that a reason was given that makes sense.
Of course this letter was written in such a way that i was to blame for everything, and Parko had done nothing wrong whatsoever.
I called the political responsible on the phone and explained that he must have been misinformed, but he seemed to know this very well already.
He told me that i should just get my address changed, and then i could get back to him and he would make sure everything gets resolved.
From then on i didn't use my parking permit anymore (they had given me a valid reason for not letting me use it) and parked the car in a free zone.
The thursday and friday were holidays in Belgium, so i waited until monday to proceed.
On monday (24 May), i went to city hall to get my address changed, and then went back to Parko to get my parking permit finally settled.
I was once more confronted with the umbrella system lady, who said she could not give me my parking permit, because first the police had to see if i do actually really live there.
Now i really had enough. Later on monday, i called the director of Parko, and asked what the hell i have to do to get this parking permit.
He asked if i did change my residency, and i confirmed.
He then asked if i showed the proof of that, and i once more confirmed.
Now there finally seemed to be some progress. He promised me that he would personally make sure that the matter would get settled, and would call me back later this week.
The rest of the week was business as usual. He did not call me back, and i keep getting my daily fines, which i refuse to pay.
(*) For privacy reasons, the names of all people involved, except for my own, have been changed.