Handling A Speeding Ticket In Spain Without Photo Evidence: Your Rights Explained

Can you challenge a speeding fine in Spain?

A speeding fine in Spain is not cancelled just because the notice arrives with no photograph, or with only one. Spain's rules on speed cameras require two photographs, taken at different moments, only from fixed cameras that work with no operator and cannot follow the vehicle all the way through the measurement. Cameras run by an officer, mobile cameras and the oldest fixed models need one. If the photograph the rules require is missing, you can say so in a written objection (alegación) within 20 calendar days of the notice, but objecting means giving up the 50% discount for paying early.

This article explains what a speed camera's record has to show, which cameras need two photographs and which need one, and what to do when the photograph is missing. The rules come from Spain's metrology order for speed cameras (Orden ICT/155/2020) and the traffic law, and were checked against both in November 2026.

Notification and photograph requirements

How speeding fines are notified

There are two ways to receive a speeding fine in Spain. An officer can stop you and hand you the notice at the roadside. Or, when a camera records the vehicle and nobody stops it, the notice is sent afterwards to the registered owner: to the owner's electronic mailbox with the traffic authority (the Dirección Electrónica Vial) if they have one, and otherwise to the address the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT), Spain's national traffic authority, holds for them. The owner then has 20 calendar days to say who was driving.

By law the notice must identify the vehicle, name the person fined if known, and describe the offence briefly with the place or stretch of road, the date and the time. A photograph is not on that list. In practice the DGT says a driver fined by one of its speed cameras is sent the photographs that show the offence and the camera's metrology certificate together with the notice.

Minimum photo requirements

The requirement for two photographs is a rule about the camera, not about the envelope. The metrology order says that a speed camera which works without an operator continuously watching it, and which cannot detect, follow and identify the vehicle without doubt throughout the measurement, must produce at least two frames of the vehicle taken at different moments: one showing a wide view of the vehicle and the other its number plate.

So if your notice comes with no photograph, the first step is to ask for the camera's record, not to assume the fine is void. You can ask for it as evidence in your objection, and a refusal to produce evidence has to give reasons.

Why duplicate photos are not valid

Where two frames are required, the rule says they must be taken at different moments. On that wording, one photograph printed twice, or one photograph next to an enlargement of its own number plate, is still a single moment. If that is what you were sent by a camera that needs two frames, say so plainly in your objection and attach the copies you received.

Essential information in the radar image

Every speed camera must be connected to a film or photo recording device, and the vehicle whose speed was measured must be identifiable in that record without ambiguity. The record must match the camera's own reading and show at least the following.

Exact speed

The speed the camera measured for the vehicle. If the camera measures traffic in both directions, the record must also show which way the vehicle was travelling.

Date and time

The date and time of the measurement. Check them against your own records: where the car was, and who was driving it.

Identifying data of the radar device

The record must identify the camera that took the measurement and, where it applies, its location. Separately, every speed camera used for fines is under state metrological control and has to pass a periodic verification every year. The DGT says the certificate that shows this is sent with the notice. Check that it refers to the same camera and that it was valid on the date of the offence, and ask for it if it is missing.

Why multiple photographs matter

Which cameras need two photographs

Spain's national metrology centre, the Centro Español de Metrología, set out in a technical report of September 2023 how many photographs each kind of speed camera needs to support a fine:

• Fixed camera that cannot track the vehicle: two photographs, if the model was approved under the rules in force since December 2006. Models approved under the earlier 1994 rules need one.
• Fixed camera that can detect, follow and identify the vehicle throughout the measurement: one photograph.
• Average-speed camera (which times a vehicle between two points): two photographs.
• Static camera, set up temporarily and run by an operator: one photograph.
• Mobile camera, fitted in a moving vehicle: one photograph.
• Camera on an aircraft: one photograph.

Why older cameras are treated differently

The two-photograph rule dates from the 2006 order on speed cameras and was carried into the order that applies today. That order lets a device that was legally in service keep working for as long as it passes its verifications, and says it cannot be asked to meet requirements added after it was put into service. The same report lists camera models one by one with the number of photographs each needs.

What this means for drivers

One photograph is not proof of a mistake. It depends on the type of camera and when its model was approved, and the notice or the metrology certificate should tell you which camera it was. If it was a fixed camera with no operator, or an average-speed camera, and you were sent a single frame, you have a specific point to raise in your objection.

Each case is decided on its own facts, first by the authority that fined you and, if you take it further, by a court. No argument is certain to succeed, so weigh it against the 50% discount you give up by objecting.

When one photograph is enough

Cameras run by an officer

The two-photograph rule only covers cameras that work with nobody watching them. Where an operator is in charge of the camera, for example a camera on a tripod at the roadside or in a parked patrol car, or where the camera is fitted in a moving patrol vehicle, one photograph is enough.

When an officer reports the offence, the law also gives that report the value of proof of what happened unless you show otherwise, although the officer must still provide all the evidence that is possible. That is why simply saying "there is only one photo" will not succeed against a camera that an officer was operating.

Information that still must appear

A single photograph still has to do its job. Whatever the type of camera, the record must identify your vehicle without ambiguity and show the date and time, the measured speed and which camera took the reading. If the number plate cannot be read, or the image could be of another vehicle, that is a point worth raising whichever camera was used.

How to challenge a speeding ticket without photo evidence

Know the time frame

You have 20 calendar days, counted from the day after you receive the notice, to pay with the 50% discount or to send a written objection. Weekends and public holidays count. You cannot do both: paying closes the case, and objecting gives up the discount, so if the objection fails you pay the fine in full. For how and where to pay, see our guide to paying traffic fines in Spain.

Check the notice and the photographs

Work out which kind of camera recorded you and how many photographs it needs. Then check what you were sent: can the number plate be read, is it your vehicle, do the date, time, place and speed match the notice, and is the camera identified?

Ask for what is missing

If there is no photograph, only one where two are needed, or no metrology certificate, say so in your objection and ask for the camera's full record and its certificate to be produced as evidence.

Gather supporting evidence

Add anything of your own that shows where the vehicle was or who was driving, such as toll or parking receipts or a witness statement. An objection that only says you disagree, with no new facts, is unlikely to change the outcome.

File a formal objection

Send the objection to the body that issued the fine, quoting the file number on the notice. The procedure itself, including where to send it, what happens if it is rejected and the second appeal, is set out step by step in our guide on how to appeal a traffic fine in Spain.

Further reading

How do I know if a traffic fine in Spain is fake?

Paying traffic fines in Spain

How to change your address with Spain's DGT traffic authority