Local Police strike – refuse to issue fines

The Local Police of several capitals – including Seville and Granada- are on strike over proposed pay cuts. However, instead of actually striking, they are refusing to issue standard traffic fines, except in severe cases. Instead, they are issuing warnings, or using outdated fine books which have not been withdrawn by the townhalls (which allows the fined motorists to recurr the fine). The protest has been called the “semana sin multa”, or Semana 0.0 by Continue reading Local Police strike – refuse to issue fines

El Corte Ingles to open up to third party companies (not just Burger King!)

There’s some rather superficial coverage in the expat press of how Burger King is to open up in El Corte Ingles. It’s actually a bit more interesting than that. Isidoro Álvarez has announced that his firm is to actually change direction somewhat, and move away from a typical “department store” format into a new “shopping mall” format. His plan is to permit third party companies to open up their stores inhouse, thus expanding the range Continue reading El Corte Ingles to open up to third party companies (not just Burger King!)

IVA on port moorings

Chris from Almerimar was telling me about a fight boat owners in the port are having over how much IVA should be charged on port moorings, known in Spanish as amarres (read his post on the matter here). It appears that up to now, 16% was being charged on the annual rent of a mooring. But as from the 1st of April 2010, the port authority dropped it to 7%, admitting that the 16% policy Continue reading IVA on port moorings