Fine Overturned in Torrevieja: He Was About to Lose 6 Licence Points for a Mistake That Wasn't His
A real Bufete Padilla case: a 500-euro fine and 6 points for driving the wrong way in Torrevieja, overturned in court because the report placed the offence at a two-way junction and the photos showed a different one. How to appeal a traffic fine in Spain and protect your points.
Bufete Padilla success case · Gabriel Padilla Franco, lawyer, ICAE no. 1265 · 16 October 2026
He was about to lose 6 licence points for a mistake that wasn't his
A few months ago a client came to see us holding a traffic fine. He was accused of driving the wrong way down a one-way street in Torrevieja. The penalty: 500 euros and 6 points off his driving licence.
The 500 euros hurt, of course. But what really kept him awake was the points. Six points is half of the twelve a driver has in Spain. With a penalty like that, any other slip leaves you on the verge of losing your licence. And for many people a licence is not a luxury: it means getting to work, taking the children to school or earning a living.
Reviewing the file: where the mistake appeared
We sat down with him, requested the full penalty file and read it carefully. And something didn't add up.
The report placed the offence at a specific junction. But at that junction the street is two-way and there is no "no entry" or one-way sign at all. When the officer later confirmed his report in writing, he attached photographs that were not of that junction, but of a different one, about five hundred metres away.
We raised this with the Town Council and they ignored us. So we went to court with an administrative appeal (recurso contencioso-administrativo).
The trial: the officer corrects himself
At trial I was able to question the officer who issued the fine directly. We showed him the plans and photographs of both junctions. On seeing them, he ended up admitting that the events would have taken place at the other junction, not the one he had written in the report. Nor could he say exactly which direction the vehicle had come from.
The judge explained it very clearly in the ruling: the officer's statements were "substantially corrected and modified at trial", and as a result "the evidence the Administration relied on to attribute the offence to the claimant has fallen away". Moreover, you cannot fine someone for one act and then try to uphold the fine on the basis of a different one.
Result: fine annulled. No 500 euros and no 6 points.