British tourists in Spain face £635 fine if they break beach rule

Tourists visiting Spain could be fined more than £600 if they urinate in the sea, it has been reported. Marbella City Council in Spain denied all suggestions that it will implement a fine of up to €750 (£635) for people who pee in the water.

However, at the end of May, the council approved a series of initiatives which have been designed to improve the quality of the city's famous beaches. The proposals included sanctions for antisocial behaviour such as playing loud music or ball games and fining those who carry out "physiological evacuations (bowel movements and urination) in the sea or on the beach."

A spokesperson for the city council clarified that it meant people peeing into the sea from the shoreline or perhaps from a breakwater would face a fine. And anyone caught breaking the rule more than once in a year could be fined €1,500 (£1,270), The Mirror reports.

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This means that technically if you are submerged in the water then you are not breaking the rule. The Guardian reported that when the Spanish TV programme Tiempo al Tiempo sent a reporter to the beach to gauge public reaction, the possible new enforcement was met with disbelief.

One man asked: "Who’s going to find out? The jellyfish?” A second person said: “Are there going to be police officers on the lookout? I just don’t get it.”

A spokesperson for the council clarified: "The bylaw does not impose a sanction for peeing in the sea. It will not be applicable. The bylaw regulates possible antisocial infractions on the beach, just as any such acts are regulated in any public space such as on the city’s streets."

Other locations have also implemented strange rules in the past including Malaga in 2004, which introduced a €300 (£253) fine for “physiological evacuation on the beach or in the sea". Similarly, a €750 (£635) sanction came into effect two years ago in the Galician city of Vigo.