The dispute over parking fees and entrance fees on the Nordkapplatået is not over yet. Scandic Hotels lost the case in both the District Court and the Court of Appeal, before the Supreme Court rejected their appeal in November. Thus, it has been established: Scandic cannot demand payment from everyone who wants to see the Nordkapp. But they still run the Nordkapphallen, where they can charge a ticket. – Confused people What has upset people in the Nordkapp is the location of the ticket booth: It is on the E69, 320 meters from the hall. This can create the impression that everyone who wants to enter the area must pay. Knut-Bjørn Lindkvist and former mayor Jan Olsen think so anyway. They have reported Scandic to the police for illegal tax collection on the Nordkapp plateau. Lindkvist is a professor of geography at the University of Bergen, and is a honey surveyor. He tells news that the staff in the booth correctly informs that it is free to enter the open-air area and park the car. At the same time, they sell tickets to Nordkapphallen. The view from Nordkapp – erroneously referred to as Norway’s or Europe’s northernmost point – has been a good store for many decades. Photo: Kristina Kalinina / news – They do things right, so to speak. But as long as they sit there, they create pressure on those who come in to buy tickets, says Lindkvist. In the report, it is claimed that the collection takes place as it has always done, and that the final judgment has thus had no consequence. – The payment to enter a commercial center should not be taken at the entrance to an outdoor area, says Lindkvist to news. He refers to section 13 of the Outdoor Activities Act, which prohibits fences at outdoor areas. Paragraph 14 states that you can only charge a fee with permission from the municipality. – You shouldn’t set up barriers like this which – to put it bluntly – trick people into buying a ticket or which create pressure to buy things they don’t need, says Lindkvist. Mayor Trudy Engen reacts to the fact that everyone is waved in to the ticket booth, regardless of whether they are only traveling in an open and free area. Photo: Kjell Bendik Pedersen, SV Mayor: Breaking the law Now the local politicians want clarification on what is actually going on at the tourist magnet. Mayor of Nordkapp municipality, Trudy Engen, believes she knows enough to say that Scandic is breaking the law. – Yes, when they do not act in accordance with section 13 of the Outdoor Activities Act, it means that they are breaking the law, says Engen. She reacted to the behavior of the employees in the ticket office when she herself visited the area last winter. – Then an arm came out from the ticket booth, and I was waved in there, says Engen. – They use the ticket booths that they have used for years when they had permission for arrangements and parking. They continue to use them to demand an entrance ticket to Nordkapphallen, she says. – You can’t get past there. You will be stopped. Case for the politicians The mayor will now have a political treatment of the case in order to put in place clear demands towards the hotel chain. – I would like the player to adjust according to the framework conditions that have been given. I think it’s a broken situation. Long-standing municipal council member for Nordkapp Høyre, Lars Helge Jensen, is getting tired of the disputes surrounding Nordkapp. – It is terribly regrettable that there is no end to the case. It is harmful for both Nordkapp municipality and the tourism operators. Denies that they are breaking the law or judgment news has been trying to get an interview with Scandic about the case since Monday. Chairman Snorre Moe has so far only sent a few written comments, in which he denies that they have done anything wrong or illegal. “The stalls have been erected legally and are on private land. There is nothing in the judgment that prevents us from selling entrance tickets to Nordkapphallen.” To enter the Nordkapphallen, you must pay a ticket. Photo: Øyvind Berge Sæbjørnsen / news Moen is aware that the current solution is not ideal, but says that they have no good alternatives to handle so many visitors. The entrance “requires adaptations both inside and out, which are not possible under the existing building and subdivision ban”, he writes. Moen says they will discuss a new solution with the municipality. Important for safety The chairman believes that it has not been established that they must manage the enormous amount of traffic on Nordkapp in order to take care of the safety of the guests. “With approx. 50,000 private vehicles and approx. We depend on 6,000 buses every year to be able to inform and guide drivers. Without an assessment of a new system for traffic management, the removal of the information point/ticket booths will represent a significant safety risk. We take responsibility for this risk today,” writes Moe to news.
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Thinks Scandic is breaking the law – news Troms and Finnmark
