[Mystic Point]

I just got a $30 parking ticket on Church St. I tried to put some money in the Park-Bot but the machine said " NOT WORKING." So I went about my business and returned to a ticket.

Is there a way to fight this?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

There was a piece on the news about this last week, many of the machines are freezing up in this extreme cold. Traffic Control is supposed to use "discretion" if a meter is out of order and the story also suggested phoning Toronto Parking Authority (the number is posted on the sides of all meters) to report the meter and leave a note on your windshield to that effect. If you still get a ticket after reporting a broken meter there is a better chance of Metro Police dismissing the ticket.

 

[whatever]

I've fought a ticket like that, and it didn't go well. The machine was out of paper, but still took my credit card and authorized the charge despite being unable to spit out the receipt. Despite leaving a note on my windshield explaining the situation I still got a ticket. In the end I was emphatically informed that this was my problem, not the city's (even tho I had a credit card statement confirming the charge), and I was physically dragged out of Metro Hall by two large men.

 

[Mystic Point]

The Toronto Parking Authority is run by a bunch of pucking funks.

Imagine this. You order a pizza. It never comes. Instead, the next day you get a bill for the pizza in the mail. You call the restaurant and inform them you never got the pizza. They say the pizza oven broke down. And it's not their fault and insist you pay nonetheless.

Circular logic is rampant in the city. Every time I have any encounter with city bureaucracy, including a non-human's like the Parking-Bot, I get the same dose of wet shit poured down my throat.

 

[Hydrogen]

They expect you to hike on the the next machine - which is hopefully in working order - and to pay your fee there. With luck, you make it back to your vehicle before being ticketed.

 

[ShonTron]

A $30 parking charge is nothing in the grand scheme of things. You need not be dragged out of Metro Hall, just petition to fight it and see if you even get a court date.

It's not like say you were fighting a $110 ticket plus demerit points by not coming to a complete stop for a badly placed, crowded, miniature, temporary stop sign at a fully-protected railway crossing at the end of a month for a CN cop to nab you like he did 10 other times that day to make his quota. That type of ticket is one worth getting upset about, especially when it wasn't a 'real' cop either.

 

[whatever]

It's not the $30, it's the principle. And then of course to actually fight the ticket I need to take a day off work, so there goes $300 in lost wages.

The system should be set up in such a way that if one fights a ticket and wins the city should be liable to pay lost wages, daycare, etc, to the person who had to take a day off to fight the city's mistake. Maybe then the city would smarten up and not push parking enforcement to be so overzealous.

 

[Mystic Point]

It's not the $30, it's the principle. And then of course to actually fight the ticket I need to take a day off work, so there goes $300 in lost wages.

The system should be set up in such a way that if one fights a ticket and wins the city should be liable to pay lost wages, daycare, etc, to the person who had to take a day off to fight the city's mistake. Maybe then the city would smarten up and not push parking enforcement to be so overzealous.

Here Here. That's my point entirely. I don't mind shelling out for parking, but the terms of the agreement are unfair and unprofessional.

 

[ShonTron]

Here Here. [sic] That's my point entirely. I don't mind shelling out for parking, but the terms of the agreement are unfair and unprofessional.

There's something wrong though when you're dragged out of Metro Hall by two security guards when a calm request to fight the ticket in court would have been more than sufficient.

 

[urbandreamer]

Why do you pay for parking?

(I never do.)

 

[whatever]

There's something wrong though when you're dragged out of Metro Hall by two security guards when a calm request to fight the ticket in court would have been more than sufficient.

But how is that sufficient? The city makes an error, they're in the wrong, but to have the problem fixed costs ten times the amount of the original mistake to fix. Do you not see the stupidity and injustice of the system, or are you just being obstinate?

It would be like having someone step on your foot in an elevator, and then having them turn around and say that they'll only apologize if you let them punch you in the face.

 

[Admiral Beez]

There was a piece on the news about this last week, many of the machines are freezing up in this extreme cold. Traffic Control is supposed to use "discretion" if a meter is out of order and the story also suggested phoning Toronto Parking Authority (the number is posted on the sides of all meters) to report the meter and leave a note on your windshield to that effect. If you still get a ticket after reporting a broken meter there is a better chance of Metro Police dismissing the ticket.

You shouldn't have parked if you were unable to pay. Imagine if you went into a cafe and ordered a coffee, but when they told you the cash register was broken, took a coffee anyway without paying.

If you know you're supposed to pay to park, but can not pay, you shouldn't park. It's a two part transaction, i.e. pay and park. It's not, pay if you can, and park.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Imagine this. You order a pizza. It never comes. Instead, the next day you get a bill for the pizza in the mail. You call the restaurant and inform them you never got the pizza. They say the pizza oven broke down. And it's not their fault and insist you pay nonetheless.

Your analogy is entirely backwards. It should be, you order a pizza. The fellow comes to deliver it. You don't have any cash, so want to pay by credit card, but the delivery guy's card reader is broken. So, you don't pay him, but still take the pizza. The delivery guy calls the authorities, and you're charged with theft. You argue that the pizza should be free since the delivery guy gave you no way of paying for the pizza. The authorities disagree, and rightly state that notwithstanding the broken payment system, you've taken the service without paying, when you should have simply declined the service and bought your pizza elsewhere with your credit card.

 

[nfitz]

Your analogy is entirely backwards. It should be, you order a pizza. The fellow comes to deliver it. You don't have any cash, so want to pay by credit card, but the delivery guy's card reader is broken. So, you don't pay him, but still take the pizza. The delivery guy calls the authorities, and you're charged with theft. You argue that the pizza should be free since the delivery guy gave you no way of paying for the pizza. The authorities disagree, and rightly state that notwithstanding the broken payment system, you've taken the service without paying, when you should have simply declined the service and bought your pizza elsewhere with your credit card.

I think this is the correct analogy in Mystic Point's case ... I can't see any reason one wouldn't simply walk down the street to the next machine - or across the road; they are never that far away.

However in whatever's example, where the machine ran out of paper, it would be akin to the delivery guy charging your card, failing to give you a receipt, leaving the pizza, and then calling the cops afterwards. I think that would be worth appealing to a higher court.

I suppose on the bright side, many keep saying that Toronto should be finding ways of discouraging parking, rather than encouraging it - and it appears they are doing just that.

 

[Roy G Biv]

You shouldn't have parked if you were unable to pay. Imagine if you went into a cafe and ordered a coffee, but when they told you the cash register was broken, took a coffee anyway without paying.

If you know you're supposed to pay to park, but can not pay, you shouldn't park. It's a two part transaction, i.e. pay and park. It's not, pay if you can, and park.

I don't think that that analogy is entirely accurate:

They would serve you the coffee, and as you went to pay, both parties would find out the register is broken. My guess is that the shop would let you keep your coffee, and not ask for it back.

Either way, I would have found the next machine. I don't think that's an unreasonable course of action.