Mistakes do happen, that much goes without saying. But what do you do when you find that a clerical error has you on the hook for over $6.7 million, which is more money than you could ever dream of having?
According to a new viral story, the answer is to respond with humor, but only after you have confirmation that the error is just that. It’s what one woman did after receiving in the mail the most expensive parking ticket in the world – which also happens to be the most ridiculous, because it was a mistake.
CarScoops reports that the incident happened at the end of last month, on the island of Rhodes, in Greece. A local newspaper covered the story, noting that the woman nearly fainted when she opened the envelope, because she assumed she’d been fined for €6,648, which is roughly $6,740 at the current exchange rate. Instead, the document read €6,648,444, so $6.75 million at the same rate.
Neither report mentions what led to the parking ticket or what its correct value was. When she read the correct amount, the woman realized that it was a mistake, so she went to the municipality and pretended she wanted to pay. She told the clerk that she was aware that the law demanded that all fines over €100 be paid with a card, but she couldn’t get credit for the kind of money she owned. So, she asked if she could pay in cash, which probably made the clerk’s day.
As you probably expect, the story has a happy ending. The woman’s joke made the clerk aware of the mistake and it was solved. Presumably, she paid the fine that she was due, whatever it was.
Again, mistakes do happen, and we can laugh about them when they’re solved. As expensive as this parking ticket was, it was not the most expensive error of recent years. That unofficial record belongs to an April 2021 ticket on Quantas Airlines, which charged $765 million for extra legroom for a single passenger.
CarScoops reports that the incident happened at the end of last month, on the island of Rhodes, in Greece. A local newspaper covered the story, noting that the woman nearly fainted when she opened the envelope, because she assumed she’d been fined for €6,648, which is roughly $6,740 at the current exchange rate. Instead, the document read €6,648,444, so $6.75 million at the same rate.
Neither report mentions what led to the parking ticket or what its correct value was. When she read the correct amount, the woman realized that it was a mistake, so she went to the municipality and pretended she wanted to pay. She told the clerk that she was aware that the law demanded that all fines over €100 be paid with a card, but she couldn’t get credit for the kind of money she owned. So, she asked if she could pay in cash, which probably made the clerk’s day.
As you probably expect, the story has a happy ending. The woman’s joke made the clerk aware of the mistake and it was solved. Presumably, she paid the fine that she was due, whatever it was.
Again, mistakes do happen, and we can laugh about them when they’re solved. As expensive as this parking ticket was, it was not the most expensive error of recent years. That unofficial record belongs to an April 2021 ticket on Quantas Airlines, which charged $765 million for extra legroom for a single passenger.