A businessman named Jorge Talavera, owner of Servicios Integrales Vital, describes the situation as if an occupier’s administration operates inside his own company. He has spent more than a decade seeking payment for guarding vehicles seized by the police and the Guardia Civil in Alicante province. To protest, he blocked Calle Pardo Gimeno in Alicante, where the courthouse is located, placing two tow trucks and a van bearing a sign that outlined his distress. He told this outlet that attempts at negotiation had yielded no solution.
In the custody facilities, more than 200 vehicles from various police operations dating back to 2001 have been stored. Those premises have functioned for nearly two decades as a private, costly depot with the blessing of the Alicante court’s deanery. The site has not only housed vehicles but also material from dismantled marijuana grow operations and clothing seized in piracy operations.
In 2014, the Department of Justice awarded the management of judicial deposits in the Community to another Valencia based company and ordered the transfer of all vehicles to the new operator. Yet the process is not straightforward. Talavera explained that as the custodian of the material, he cannot hand over the items by administrative order; authorization from the court that ordered the transfer is required. That authorization has not arrived, and monthly costs accumulate for the storage.
Negotiations with the Council
The debate over how and when the debt would be paid has preoccupied the entrepreneur. He spoke of an agreement reached with Elisa Núñez, the Vox justice councillor, to settle the debt. When the governing coalition in the Generalitat between the PP and Vox collapsed, the PP did not back the pact. Since then, at least two different justice ministers have led the Department, and a legal professional at the Valencia court is trying to organize documents for vehicles stored in Alicante, Castellón, and Murcia. Talavera warned that this monumental task will likely take years and leave the depots temporarily unresolved.
At one point, the daily storage fee was eight euros. Other operators entered the market with prices as low as 2.30 euros, and it has since dipped further to 1.80 euros. Talavera lamented that those rates would be applied retroactively to his company. The initial debt was estimated at about two million euros, but the final figure remains uncertain due to tariff changes. There is presently an estimate around ten thousand euros per month.
Retroactive Tariffs
Talavera recalled that his team had to pay VAT on invoices that had not been collected. He argued that the cost of living had risen for them as well and that the storage of these vehicles generated all kinds of expenses, especially staff to guard them. The facilities faced a recent attempt to steal equipment from the plant sectors, prompting a dramatic chase to San Vicente del Raspeig, where police had to fire warning shots to subdue the fugitives.
The stretch of Calle Pardo Gimeno where the courts are located remained closed for three hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., as Local Police redirected traffic toward Calle Los Doscientos.
One of the protest signs captured the frustration: private firms know they have to fund the Department of Justice out of their own pockets, Talavera said. The funds have been spent on services already provided, not merely on an administrative order. The ongoing dispute has driven a contencioso-administrativo case aimed at compelling the regional administration to pay. He warned that it could take at least two more years to recover the debts, leaving employees unpaid and two houses mortgaged. He stressed that his business had always operated as a model enterprise, despite the mounting financial strain.