This gives “text me when you get home” a whole new meaning. Hundreds of young people have created WhatsApp groups to “insure” themselves against paying the fine for violating the curfew in the Netherlands.
Members of the groups are instructed to send a photo of the fine to the group administrator. Providing that the user has already transferred an initiation fee of €10 and is the first of 55 members to claim they have been fined that day, the group admin will transfer over the amount of the fine.
There are at least three of these groups with hundreds of members, reports RTL Nieuws. Not only can you gain financial insurance against the avondklok, but the apps also share “safe” routes home where there are unlikely to be police. A kind of millennial neighbourhood watch.
Ambiguous legal standing
Whether or not these groups are legal is an interesting question. Marit van der Pool specialises in insurance law and tells RTL Nieuws that “contractually, this agreement is not allowed, because you are not allowed to insure intentional actions.”
However, she reminds us that these groups act as a contract and that “the two contracting parties both want this. So nobody is going to say ‘this is not allowed’.”
On the other hand, her colleague Mark Wisse states that you need a licence from De Nederlandsche Bank to offer insurance. It’s unlikely that these groups have this kind of licence.
Decline in support for curfew in the Netherlands
When it comes to public support of coronavirus measures, the curfew is at the bottom of the list. Many question its effectiveness in fighting coronavirus, especially when infection numbers continue to rise.
The administrator of the WhatsApp group tells RTL Nieuws that “I got the idea when I heard in my area that curfew was hard for people,” and that his “impression is that many people find the measure disproportionate and ineffective.”
In last night’s press conference, Mark Rutte announced a plan to abandon curfew after April 28, if the R rate is sufficiently low.
How have you been impacted by the curfew? Let us know in the comments!
Feature Image: Anton/Pexels
What kind of lawyer is Marit van der Pool to write, “the two contracting parties both want this. So nobody is going to say ‘this is not allowed’.”? If I hire a hit man to kill my wife and he agrees to the price, since we both want this, using her reasoning it must be allowed. Absurd!
Marit IS right, however, that this scheme is clearly illegal. Bedsides insurance violations, the people involved are conspiring to circumvent the curfew law. For authorities to turn a blind eye to these criminals undermines respect for the law and encourages others bent on even more dastardly actions to go ahead because, “nobody is going to say this is not allowed “!
I don’t know what you are doing over there in the Netherlands, but whatever it is, it’s not working. I can’t believe that a nation as progressive as yours, can’t get this Covid situation under control. What are you doing over there ? You have had more than a year to get it right.