Dokkum Admiralty Days: Lottery car receives a parking fine of 120 euros
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3 Sep 2025 •
Reading time: 3 minutes The Admiralty Days in Dokkum are eagerly anticipated every year, and not just in the Dokkum area. This fantastic family festival with numerous activities on and around the water attracts countless visitors every year. The festivities last four days and mobilize numerous volunteers.
And on top of that, there’s also a raffle with the grand prize: a dark gray Audi A3. This eye-catching car was strategically parked to stand out. However, parking there wasn’t allowed, so it resulted in a €120 parking fine.
Grand prize or not, parking was prohibited in that location
The grand prize was parked illegally, and the person issuing the ticket didn’t consider whether the car had an owner or not. Because in this case, the owner becomes the winner of this wonderful prize. Although the organizers wanted a prime spot for their showpiece, they somehow forgot about the rules.
More attention for lottery at coveted location
The Admiralty Days kick off in Dokkum, Friesland, on September 4th. The event is organized by sponsors, volunteers, and the proceeds from this lottery. That’s why they decided to park this car in the center of Dokkum last Friday evening.
The car stood out even more thanks to promotional texts like “Speel en win” (Play and win) and “Admiraliteitsdagen Dokkum Loterij” (Dokkum Admiralty Days lottery). Because let’s face it, you can’t win an Audi A3 as the grand prize in a local lottery every day.
That’s why, just before the weekend, they wanted to generate more exposure for the lottery by parking at De Zijl, the location where the stage and guest deck were being set up. Half an hour after parking, a special investigating officer arrived. He determined that parking was prohibited there and issued a €120 parking fine.
Klaas Sipma, chairman of the Admiralty Days sponsorship committee, told the Leeuwarder Courant that this is a very unusual situation:
“Half an hour after I parked, I got a message: ‘There’s a law enforcement officer here at the car, and he’s about to issue a ticket. 120 euros…’ This fanatical law enforcement officer is obviously just doing his job, but this is quite unusual.”
Now what are the consequences?
The car is no longer in its usual place and will later be placed on top of a container so that it can still serve as an eye-catcher for the lottery.
Klaas Sipma would like to discuss this with the municipality to find a solution. One alternative is for the organization to consider symbolically offsetting the fine by selling a few extra lottery tickets.
Probo is the main sponsor of the Admiralty Days and, in the Leeuwarder Courant, retracts previous statements by Mayor Johannes Kramer. He wants to portray Dokkum as a welcoming, warm, and accessible city in preparation for Koningsdag next year. Jordy de Jong, the sponsor’s representative, hopes the mayor will revisit this event.
Not the first lottery to give away a car
Of course, we’re also familiar with the postcode lottery, which raffles off BMWs on television. But during its annual New Year’s Eve draw, the Staatsloterij also gives away a few MINI Coopers. Yet, it’s happened several times that the car wasn’t claimed or was even immediately resold.
At the end of 2020, the Staatsloterij even searched for the winner of the previous year’s New Year’s Eve draw. After a search by the state-owned company, several winners were found. The tradition continued afterwards. But in 2024, the same situation occurred: The search for the lucky winner lasted almost a year, but the 71-year-old winner then announced his intention to sell the car to the dealer.
Perhaps people still expect primarily cash prizes from a lottery, not consolation prizes. And depending on the state of the winner’s own car, they might decide to keep the prize or sell it.