Flemish Citizens Paid €12 Million in Unlawful Traffic Fine Costs as Citizen Launches Fix mijn Boete Website

Flemish citizens have paid at least €12 million in unlawful administrative costs added to traffic fines by local municipalities, an investigation by Het Laatste Nieuws has revealed. In response, IT consultant Arnaud Coel from Mechelen launched the website Fix mijn Boete to help citizens challenge illegal fines and demand refunds.

The Scale of the Problem

The HLN investigation surveyed 55 local governments across Flanders and found that 31 of them — 56 percent — had charged illegal fees on traffic fines. These include automatic administrative surcharges of €6 to €11 added to every fine, as well as collection and dossier fees of €20 to €30 charged to late payers. In total, approximately 911,000 traffic fines were unlawfully increased among the surveyed municipalities alone.

The geographic concentration is notable: 20 of the 31 offending municipalities are in the provinces of Antwerp and Limburg. The largest offenders include Antwerp (€4.7 million), Mechelen (€3.1 million), Genk and seven other Limburg municipalities (€1.3 million), and Geel (€178,000). HLN notes that since only one in five municipalities was surveyed, the true figure across all of Flanders could be far higher.

Court Rulings and Ministerial Position

At least three judicial rulings have confirmed the illegality of these charges. In 2023, a Brussels seizure judge ruled against Mechelen, finding no legal basis for administrative surcharges, collection fees, or dossier costs. More recently, Antwerp was convicted twice in 2026 for similar practices.

Flemish Minister of Internal Affairs Hilde Crevits (CD&V) confirmed the charges are unlawful. Her agency sent advisory letters to all municipalities in 2024 and again in May 2026, stating clearly that no additional costs may be charged during the amicable collection phase of GAS (Gemeentelijke Administratieve Sancties) fines. “That some local governments ignored the advice of my agency, I deeply regret,” Crevits told HLN. “This should not have happened.”

However, Crevits acknowledged that she cannot legally force municipalities to refund the money. “I cannot legally force them [to repay]. That responsibility lies with the local governments themselves,” she said.

A Citizen Takes Action

Arnaud Coel, an IT consultant from Mechelen who previously ran a one-man political party called Fix de Vesten against the city’s traffic circulation plan, launched Fix mijn Boete on June 29. The website serves as a petition platform where citizens can report suspicious fines, access a checklist to verify whether their fines are lawful, and find standard communication templates for filing complaints.

“You should have fines for safety and to correct things, but not to line the city treasury,” Coel said in an interview with VRT NWS.

The website was catalyzed by a related controversy: the COC (Controleorgaan op de Politionele Informatie), Belgium’s police oversight body, is investigating whether Police Zone Rivierenland (Mechelen) illegally used student workers to issue traffic fines and access private police databases. Coel aims to collect signatures and bring them to the police chief and mayor, with potential legal action in a later phase.

Only One Municipality Refunding

To date, only one small municipality has begun refunding citizens. Oudsbergen in Limburg is returning €10 to approximately 7,000 citizens — but only after the provincial governor upheld a complaint from the opposition. Other municipalities, including Antwerp and Mechelen, have not committed to refunds. Most declined to comment on the record, though the city of Lier maintains that reminder fees for late payment are legally separate from fines.

Legal and Political Implications

Lawyer Pieter Geens, who wrote about the illegality of these charges in De Juristenkrant, offered a nuanced view. “In my view, many local governments were poorly advised and were not acting in bad faith,” he told HLN. However, he added that “the GAS legislation is simply poorly constructed and needs to be amended on this point.”

The story emerges against a broader backdrop of debate about traffic fines as a revenue source. In 2025, Flemish municipalities collected a record €177.3 million from GAS fines. The federal De Wever government has also announced a 10 percent increase in traffic fines effective July 1, 2026.

What’s Next

The Fix mijn Boete website could inspire similar citizen-led initiatives across Belgium. Outstanding questions remain: Will other municipalities be forced to refund citizens? Will the Flemish or federal government amend the GAS legislation to clarify the legal position? And what will be the outcome of the COC investigation into the Rivierenland police zone?

For now, Flemish citizens who believe they have been charged unlawful fees can visit Fix mijn Boete to check their fines and join the growing call for accountability.