Torrevieja Council’s official car fined for the third time

The Mayor’s office at Torrevieja City Council has been fined again for their official car. This is the third time in three years that the city car has been fined, and the second time for speeding. On November 6th, 2025, the Skoda Superb was driving on the A-31 motorway. This roadway connects the provinces of Alicante and Valencia via the interior. The speeding offence was registered at kilometre marker 43.3.

The stationary speed camera is in the province of Valencia, not far from Xàtiva. It gives out around 10,000 tickets a year, making it one of the busiest speed cameras in the Valencian Community. The car was going back to Torrevieja. The fine is small: €50, plus a discount for paying early, which has been approved.

Follow the rules

This time, the officials in charge of the case told the wrongdoer that “when using any municipally owned vehicle, he must take extreme precautions to strictly comply with all applicable regulations, especially those relating to traffic and circulation of motor vehicles and road safety.”

Fines

On September 6th, 2023, the Alicante City Council’s video surveillance network caught the same car travelling in the bus and taxi lane on the Rambla de Méndez Núñez. The Torrevieja City Council ordered the payment of the €180 fine for a very serious violation of the municipal legislation. The municipality paid the fine because they couldn’t find out who was driving the municipal car that broke the law when they were asked to give their information.

And once again, the feared DGT (Spanish Directorate General of Traffic) speed camera recorded the Skoda Superb speeding on July 9, 2024, at kilometre 7 of the CV-905 in the municipality of Torrevieja. The driver, who worked for the government, was fined 100 euros for a small offence. The automobile cost the government 50 euros when the discount was taken off.

It wasn’t, yet it was

The Skoda Superb was the vehicle in all three cases. In late 2021 there was a bid for a contract to fix up 36 city cars and motorcycles worth over €700,000. The list included buying a car for the Mayor’s office that cost slightly over €46,000. The PP (People’s Party) government team made it clear at that time that all councillors and civil staff might utilise this car for any service. They said, “It’s not the mayor’s car; it belongs to the Mayor’s office.” The new fleet was shown out in the middle of 2022. The car that was supposed to go to the Mayor’s office was delivered with the others, but it wasn’t on show.

Before the housing crisis, the mayors of the Vega Baja region drove flashy executive sedans, but the Skoda Superb isn’t one of those. It’s a nice car, though—elegant and understated. The Polish brand’s car was made to order with 190 hp, a top speed of 235 km/h, and tinted windows, among other standard “extras” found in high-end vehicles. And of course, it has a dependable diesel engine.

The municipality chose the same vehicle that the Provincial Council uses to move its public officials. This happened at the end of the last term. Eduardo Dolón quickly told everyone that he would not be using it. The ruling team chose to hide the new Skoda when the new fleet was shown off in August 2022. It never showed up. It is designated as Asset Number 28 in the city’s vehicle inventory and is “assigned to the Mayor’s Office.”

Time made it less likely that the issue would become controversial because the councillor had already gotten one in his first term for taking 300-metre trips in his official car, an old but impressive Volkswagen Phenton that he got from the Mayor’s Office of Pedro Hernández.

So, for a while, people mostly ignored the new official car. This changed shortly after the 2023 elections. As the mayor’s current term went on, his commitment not to touch that car disappeared. He uses it to get about while he isn’t working in the Valencian Parliament, where he gets an annual stipend to cover travel costs.

Every day

The Mayor even made a video of his everyday routine when he commutes to Valencia in his own car. He goes to the city a few times a week. According to official data from the Generalitat (the Valencian regional government), he said he would make €94,000 a year in 2024. In 2023, he made more than €100,000.

That number comprises his pay as a member of the Valencian Parliament and money for going to meetings of college bodies in Torrevieja, like plenary sessions, government committees, spokespersons’ meetings, and advisory committees. Dolón often says that he doesn’t get paid as mayor, yet he does get paid as a regional deputy and gets paid by the City Council every year, sometimes more than €30,000. Deputies who live more than 100 kilometres from Valencia get an extra €11,000 a year to cover travel costs.

The Skoda is creating a name for itself. The DGT (Spanish Directorate General of Traffic) is not forgiving. The Torrevieja City Council also doesn’t care; in 2024, it got more than €453,000 from traffic penalties given to drivers in the city centre by the Local Police.