EDIT I moved forward with the lawyer, luckilly managed to find a cheaper one. Thank you everyone for the donations :) Cross your fingers for positive results

Hi, I’m Magda, a Polish immigrant living in Lisbon, Portugal. I originally came here to improve my Portuguese, but ended up staying after falling in love.

My life here was perfectly normal until April 2025, when I received a letter from Finanças (the Portuguese tax authority) claiming I had an unpaid fine from October 2024. I was given 30 days to defend myself. Since I always travel with a valid monthly ticket, I immediately knew there must have been a mistake.

I called Finanças to ask what documents I needed to submit to contest the fine, and that’s when the typical Portuguese bureaucracy began. The employee told me, unhelpfully, that I should know best what to upload. I explained that this was my first time dealing with such a situation and that I needed more information -like when and why the ticket was issued. The only thing I knew was the date and location.

In a response I was told that my lawyer should help me, and that Finanças had no further information. I was told to contact Carris, the public transport company, since they had issued the fine. When I called Carris, they insisted that Finanças had all the details and that they couldn’t help me. I called Finanças again, only to be told, again,to contact Carris.

Frustrated, I emailed Carris, but they repeated that they couldn’t provide any information. I forwarded this response to Finanças, and suddenly they “found” the extra documents with more information, but I would have to pay to access them.

Since I knew I hadn’t been in Alcântara on the day in question, I decided to defend myself with the evidence I had. My employer provided a statement confirming I was at the office, far from Alcântara, the entire day. After work, I met with friends who kindly signed a declaration confirming I hadn’t been in Alcântara. I even found an old receipt proving I’d paid for my monthly ticket in October.

After 30 days, I finally received a response. To my shock, they claimed I’d been identified in Alcântara at 12:03 using my old transport card - which had actually been stolen from me 22 days earlier. The ticket inspector had detected that the card was adulterated and confiscated it, but Carris insists it was me, simply because the card is “personal and non-transferable". How can Carris identify me with a document they confiscated because they believed it was being used fraudulently?

In early October, I had reported my card missing and had a new one issued. The Navegante employee transferred my ticket to the new card, but failed to cancel the old one, meaning someone else could use it as identification.

Despite all this evidence, including a letter from my employer, they still want me to pay the fine: €120, plus €70 in administrative costs to Finanças. When I asked if anyone had actually reviewed my case, they admitted they simply forward documents between Carris and me - nothing more. If I don’t pay, they can deduct the debt directly from my salary.

My only option now is to file a lawsuit. This will cost between €102 and several hundred euros, plus lawyer fees. Even though I speak Portuguese, I can’t represent myself in court because of the language barrier. Most lawyers don’t even want to take the case. The only lawyer willing to help is asking for a minimum of €500 - an amount I simply can’t afford on my Portuguese salary.

My only option is to pay Carris and accept their incompetence, or to fight the fine in court where I’m hopeful that all the evidence will actually be reviewed.

That’s why I’m asking for your help. I’m hoping to raise €600 to cover the cost of opening a lawsuit and hiring a lawyer. It’s absurd that someone can be fined based solely on a transport card, without proper identification, and then ignored even after proving they weren’t at the scene. To make matters worse, Carris never even contacted me about the fine before this.

This ordeal has already caused me multiple sleepless nights and all I want is to resolve this situation. Companies like Carris shouldn't have absolute power and just give fines based on a defaced transportation card which is not an official document to identify a person.

Your support means more to me than words can express. Every donation, no matter the size, brings me one step closer to justice and peace of mind. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing by me during this difficult time.

If you’ve ever been frustrated with Carris, or how officials of Portuguese companies act, I’d ask you to donate. I am deeply grateful for your kindness, generosity, and belief in my cause.