We hired a car in Italy last June and did a day trip to Florence. Whilst using our normally reliable satnav to find a parking area I recall driving through some narrow parts towards the centre of the city, albeit I didn't see any signs saying we couldn't. In December, two amounts of £35 were taken from the credit card I used to pay for the hire car and I contacted the rental company fearing fraudulent use of my card.

However they said they had been contacted by the authorities/police asking for details of the driver on the day I know I was in Florence and these were their admin fees for supplying the information. I have therefore allowed those fees to go through and have been waiting for four months for the fines to arrive from the police. My question now though, given that we are approaching the anniversary of my misdemeanours, is whether there is a time limit within which the penalties have to be issued? I accept I probably drove through restricted areas and I don't want any problems when I try to hire a car again for this year's holiday.