$450 Parking Ticket!

[sp3GT]

A buddy of mine was downtown today and accidentally parked in a spot that was a loading zone for the disabled.

The Amount of the ticket is $450, which is ridiculous. He definitely wants to fight it but he's not sure what to do cause he's never gotten one of these.

This is the infraction on the ticket: "stand vehicle in on-street disabled loading zone without proper display of valid permit"

If we're in Markham can we just take the ticket to the civic centre??

Inputs appreciated.

[HBP]

think you'll have to do it in toronto

not markham

fee will probs be reduced, wont be thrown out though...

[Fuman]

go see the attending (or whatever they call it), they'll reduce your fine since its first offense.

[MPS]

file for trail and pray they don't have time to deal with this like most parking tickets

[sp3GT]

go see the attending (or whatever they call it), they'll reduce your fine since its first offense.

Can you elaborate? Whats attending?

[Fuman]

Can you elaborate? Whats attending?
its not the judge, but just someone who deals with parking tickets (ticket won't get dropped).
it should say on the ticket. I'm not sure if the person is called an "attending", its just a clerk of some sort.

For me, they dropped the fine in half, I paid $100 for mine on a similar offense.

[jalarner]

They may not drop the ticket too much. I work for a large courier company......the city really pushes no parking in disabled zones. When you go to the courthouse ask if you can "discuss" this or deal with it then. You can explain your situation and the person will decide what they can offer. If you choose to go to court, as has been mentioned, you may not even have to appear if it is too busy. On the other hand if you go, they judge may do nothing for you.

Regardless, it doesnt show up on your record!!

[Halogen]

My advise, don't get too overwhelmed, its never as bad as it seems.

Don't pay the full $450 though, at least contend the penalty. Check out option 2 on the back of the ticket, you can appear and plea that you really can not afford to make that payment. They will reduce it, but remember, you are agreeing to plead guilty, so you can't fight the actual ticket.

[Malcolm991]

How do you accidentally park in a disabled spot?

[MPS]

its unloading area
so you just don't always see where ur parking
and DT parking ppl are @ssholes
they will ticket ur mother while she is standing by ur father :chuckle


How do you accidentally park in a disabled spot?

[rick10]

i actually got the same ticket 2 weeks ago.. I parked in a disable parking spot however there was not sign at all .. At least no visible sign . Anyways mine was in toronto too so i had to go to eglinton and jane and make an appoinmnt for court date ... My case is a little different though my wife has a disable permit and she was with me that date ( although we did not have it on thr window)... Anyhow thats the way i m going to fight it.. But yea some of those disable parking spots are kind of hard to see ... Its not like mississauga where they actually paint the road with a disable parking sign and the sign is 5 feet high so you can not miss it... The one i parked at there was not sign on the road and the stupid sign was like 8 feet high

[JashiK]

wow $450... I always thought those tickets were $100.
I remember I racked up a little over $500 in parking tickets in Toronto.
It was a shitty day when I went to renew my plate sticker and it cost almost $600.

[MSMitch]

Maybe your argument can be "I MUST be disabled cuz I didn't see the sign!"

:)

[JashiK]

Maybe your argument can be "I MUST be disabled cuz I didn't see the sign!"

:)

lol ... true. 8 ft isn't that high.

[jonjon72]

go see the attending (or whatever they call it), they'll reduce your fine since its first offense.

That would be the Justice of the Peace that the discussion would be with. Prior to it going to trial, you should have the option to speak with one, plead your case and most likely get a reduced fine.

[Fuman]

That would be the Justice of the Peace that the discussion would be with. Prior to it going to trial, you should have the option to speak with one, plead your case and most likely get a reduced fine.

thanks Jon, my memory doesn't always serve me properly.
My fine was $300, it was reduced to $150.
My reason was I backed in, and it sign was 8ft high on the building pole. Not the usual Disabled Parking Sign on its only metal rod with concrete base. I walked away from the pole on my way to the restaurant, and did not see the sign until I got back.

[Karen Lee-McNair]

maybe your argument can be "i must be disabled cuz i didn't see the sign!"

:)

lmao!

[p-o-g-i]

Wow $450 is pretty intense.

So like how other's have commented, you have 3 options.....

1. pay the ticket (which I don't think anyone would advise on doing)
2. talk to the Justice of the Peace to try and have the ticket reduced
3. set a date to dispute the ticket and hope either they get too busy to set a date, or the parking ticket cop doesn't show up

I'm pretty sure if you do option 2, and then try option 3.... option 2 goes out the door, so don't think you have that as a backup plan. As soon as you go to trial, what ever bargain you work out with the JP goes out the door.

[Cudgel]

Plead not guilty and request a trial date. They have to have a court date set for you within 6 months. If not, your ticket is thrown out. (This has happened to me before).

If you do get the trial notice, appear in court earlier and when you report in, you can talk to the attorney there and ask if he/she can have the charges reduced because you can't afford it (they usually will unless you talk to them like a total jerk - which I've seen). If so, you will still have to plead guilty when you face the judge during your trial.

If you don't want to plea bargain and you really have a good reason, then you can plea your case or just hope that the officer who wrote you the ticket doesn't show up so that your case would be dropped altogether.

The other problem is that it's in Toronto (and you live in Markham) so you'll have to go in person to plead not guilty and request a trial date and then go down again on the court date so it's quite inconvenient.

I parked in a handicap zone about 2 years ago and received a ticket for it (no, I didn't do it on purpose, I'm not that kind of person). Basically, there was no marking on the ground to indicate that it was a handicap zone, the parking space was the same size as all the other ones. The lines were yellow like all the other ones (i've seen blue line for handicap zones). The sign on the pole was like 8ft high or so. I took pictures & videos of these as evidence. On the day of the trial, I went back to the same area to have another look and guess what, the sign was moved a lot lower....about 5 feet high now so I took another picture to show as more evidence. In the end, the officer did not show up and they had no case against me and dropped it.

Good luck with yours!

[rick10]

Plead not guilty and request a trial date. They have to have a court date set for you within 6 months. If not, your ticket is thrown out. (This has happened to me before).

If you do get the trial notice, appear in court earlier and when you report in, you can talk to the attorney there and ask if he/she can have the charges reduced because you can't afford it (they usually will unless you talk to them like a total jerk - which I've seen). If so, you will still have to plead guilty when you face the judge during your trial.

If you don't want to plea bargain and you really have a good reason, then you can plea your case or just hope that the officer who wrote you the ticket doesn't show up so that your case would be dropped altogether.

The other problem is that it's in Toronto (and you live in Markham) so you'll have to go in person to plead not guilty and request a trial date and then go down again on the court date so it's quite inconvenient.

I parked in a handicap zone about 2 years ago and received a ticket for it (no, I didn't do it on purpose, I'm not that kind of person). Basically, there was no marking on the ground to indicate that it was a handicap zone, the parking space was the same size as all the other ones. The lines were yellow like all the other ones (i've seen blue line for handicap zones). The sign on the pole was like 8ft high or so. I took pictures & videos of these as evidence. On the day of the trial, I went back to the same area to have another look and guess what, the sign was moved a lot lower....about 5 feet high now so I took another picture to show as more evidence. In the end, the officer did not show up and they had no case against me and dropped it.

Good luck with yours!

that is my point too , the disable parking spot actually look the same as the normal ones.. Same space and not mark on the road or concrete saying handicap spot , instead they decide to put a sign 8-9 ft high ... THe sign is actually above the PARKING sign and the hours you are allow to park ,I live in sauga and its completely different here...

[sp3GT]

Thanks for all the input guys, I'll let my buddy know what he should do. Cause paying $450 is just absolutely ridiculous.

[zoomzoom33]

$450 is a bit steep, but gets ppls attention as to why not to park it in these spots. My dad has a HC spot in front of his house that I got approve through the city, and believe me PPL still park in it even though theres two poles pointing out where not to park between. I seen a lady completely flipped out when she saw the ticket!!! The signs here in T.O arent too bad, There are worst, like NYC....:bang

[bigbot]

Plead not guilty and request a trial date. They have to have a court date set for you within 6 months. If not, your ticket is thrown out. (This has happened to me before).

If you do get the trial notice, appear in court earlier and when you report in, you can talk to the attorney there and ask if he/she can have the charges reduced because you can't afford it (they usually will unless you talk to them like a total jerk - which I've seen). If so, you will still have to plead guilty when you face the judge during your trial.

If you don't want to plea bargain and you really have a good reason, then you can plea your case or just hope that the officer who wrote you the ticket doesn't show up so that your case would be dropped altogether.

The other problem is that it's in Toronto (and you live in Markham) so you'll have to go in person to plead not guilty and request a trial date and then go down again on the court date so it's quite inconvenient.

I parked in a handicap zone about 2 years ago and received a ticket for it (no, I didn't do it on purpose, I'm not that kind of person). Basically, there was no marking on the ground to indicate that it was a handicap zone, the parking space was the same size as all the other ones. The lines were yellow like all the other ones (i've seen blue line for handicap zones). The sign on the pole was like 8ft high or so. I took pictures & videos of these as evidence. On the day of the trial, I went back to the same area to have another look and guess what, the sign was moved a lot lower....about 5 feet high now so I took another picture to show as more evidence. In the end, the officer did not show up and they had no case against me and dropped it.

Good luck with yours!


Think carefully about doing this now. There was a article in the start covering parking tickets and how they are ramping up court dates to get thier money. Mind you the article talks about $30 tickets, yours is $450 so I am sure they will come after you and set that trial date.

Attached Toronto Star Story.

Jack Lakey
Staff Reporter

The free ride is over for drivers who requested a trial for a $30 Toronto parking ticket in the hope that their day in court would never arrive.

In the past month the city has added five new courtrooms to the 24 already in use and is now mailing out court dates for trial requests on $30 parking tickets issued last summer, after almost all trials requested over the past four years for $30 tickets had been on indefinite hold.

"We've been loading them up with parking ticket trials almost exclusively," said court services director Barry Randell, adding that drivers who requested a trial on a $30 ticket since last summer, "are absolutely going to get one."

As revealed by The Fixer just over a year ago, the city got upwards of 300,000 requests for trials on $30 tickets – the most commonly issued, mainly for overtime parking – since the start of 2006, but fewer than 5,000 resulted in a trial date, due to a lack of courts and staff.

With such a huge backlog of requests, some dating back nearly four years, it looked like it would never be cleared up, which emboldened people to request a trial on the chance it would never happen.

But after a 2008 report to city council said more courtrooms were essential, Randell said four new courtrooms were created at 70 Centre St., near Dundas St. and University Ave., which opened on July 6, and a fifth was recently opened at 1530 Markham Rd. in Scarborough.

The new courtrooms can handle a total of 125,000 trials annually, he said, and will be used to clear part of the backlog of trial requests for $30 tickets, particularly those made since the start of 2008.

That still leaves more than 100,000 trial requests from 2006 and 2007 outstanding.

Randell conceded a year ago that it would be hard to hold credible trials on parking tickets issued that long ago, noting that parking enforcement officers leave and people may have changed addresses.

Is there any chance those requests could still come to trial?

"That's a good question," he said. "It's something we're still discussing with our parking ticket staff."

In other words, drivers still waiting for a court date on a ticket issued more than two years ago will likely slip the noose.

[MRT_MS3]

Same thing happened to me last year. 400$ ticket and the judge reduced it in half. I pretty much told him straight up that I can't afford it and he gave me 6 months to pay it.

[tomika7]

www.thinkfree.ca
go on that website and find out how every single parkingticket in this ****ing country is a fraud
we just born into thinking ya we have to pay for a parking tickets if we get one
long story short if u never wanna pay for a parking ticket again go there register and read in forums what to do
u go there u might even find out that we DO NOT need a drivers license to drive a car because we are not drivers ( drivers are who make money during traveling in a motor whiacle) we do not get paid to go from point a to point b unless u are like a taxi driver
go there and read u will be amazed who u are not a human being but a PERSON
human have to fallow common law
PERSONS = corporations ( us humans inslaved by goverment ) have to fallow acts statues policies
nuff said go ther read learn and become a FREE MAN ON THE LAND

ps.: too lazy to chk my spellin'

[jonjon72]

www.thinkfree.ca
go on that website and find out how every single parkingticket in this ****ing country is a fraud
we just born into thinking ya we have to pay for a parking tickets if we get one
long story short if u never wanna pay for a parking ticket again go there register and read in forums what to do
u go there u might even find out that we DO NOT need a drivers license to drive a car because we are not drivers ( drivers are who make money during traveling in a motor whiacle) we do not get paid to go from point a to point b unless u are like a taxi driver
go there and read u will be amazed who u are not a human being but a PERSON
human have to fallow common law
PERSONS = corporations ( us humans inslaved by goverment ) have to fallow acts statues policies
nuff said go ther read learn and become a FREE MAN ON THE LAND

ps.: too lazy to chk my spellin'



um, ya. Thats all we need right now. More unlicensed drivers on the road. :bang

[sp3GT]

If the attendance person isn't there is it smart to talk to a counter person instead?

[ZeroChalk]

www.thinkfree.ca (http://www.thinkfree.ca)
go on that website and find out how every single parkingticket in this ****ing country is a fraud
we just born into thinking ya we have to pay for a parking tickets if we get one
long story short if u never wanna pay for a parking ticket again go there register and read in forums what to do
u go there u might even find out that we do not need a drivers license to drive a car because we are not drivers ( drivers are who make money during traveling in a motor whiacle) we do not get paid to go from point a to point b unless u are like a taxi driver
go there and read u will be amazed who u are not a human being but a person
human have to fallow common law
persons = corporations ( us humans inslaved by goverment ) have to fallow acts statues policies
nuff said go ther read learn and become a free man on the land

ps.: Too lazy to chk my spellin'

wth?!

[ElegantGremlin]

www.thinkfree.ca
go on that website and find out how every single parkingticket in this ****ing country is a fraud
we just born into thinking ya we have to pay for a parking tickets if we get one
long story short if u never wanna pay for a parking ticket again go there register and read in forums what to do
u go there u might even find out that we DO NOT need a drivers license to drive a car because we are not drivers ( drivers are who make money during traveling in a motor whiacle) we do not get paid to go from point a to point b unless u are like a taxi driver
go there and read u will be amazed who u are not a human being but a PERSON
human have to fallow common law
PERSONS = corporations ( us humans inslaved by goverment ) have to fallow acts statues policies
nuff said go ther read learn and become a FREE MAN ON THE LAND

ps.: too lazy to chk my spellin'

Free Tibet!*

*with purchase of regular priced Tibet

[shootemup]

For disabled or fire route fines, your pretty much screwed. I have been to court a lot for tickets (not as the accused) and have seen JPs flat out say at the begining of the day, "if you're here for a disabled fine or a fire route fine, your guilty, go pay your fine." They are VERY strict in Toronto for those offences and a lot of the time, don't even want to hear an excuse. It's either you displayed a permit, or you didn't.

Your best bet is to talk to the clerks when your applying for a trial date and a lot of times, they will make an appointment with the JP to lower the fine.with a first time offence, you'll probably be fine. However, because it's a parking fine, they really don't keep track of paid fines, only unpaid. This means, they cannot verify if this is a first, or 200th offense... guess this means you want them in a good mood so they believe you.

As for signs, there is legal requirements in the HTA for sign size, height and placement. The only legal requirements is that it is perminately posted on a refletive sign, between 5-8 feet, at the head of the parking space. No paint marks are needed, and signs on cement blocks dont count.

[WLS ZMZM]

not only is that ridiculously priced but it seems unfair... of course.. parking in those spots is wrong... What I love is the fact they crucify those who dont have the passes.. but let those who do go.... (and you all know what I mean) So many times people park with a pass that is registered to either ther uncle or parent etc etc.. and nothing is said... last time I checked being ugly doesnt count as a handicap :chuckle

Go talk to someone at the parking office... more then likely you can speak with a Justice and get things reduced just hope they are in a good mood.. as long as you are polite and respectful to the justice there shouldnt be a problem....

[zoomzoom33]

^^ I agree thats its a high price to pay but all drivers are responsible for making sure that where they park is legal. I just hate it when ppl park there cars in a HC spot at esso so they can go a grab a coffee at timmies. These spots are there for a reason. I agree that there are ppl abusing the permits and they should be subjected to the same harsh penalty as ppl parking without permits.

[sp3GT]

Update: He went in tried to talk to someone, they didn't even reduce a cent!
So he's going to court for the ticket.

[plane1]

Yeah, for Parking tickets, from what I heard from people, most times when they take it to court it either takes forever or never for them to mail you a court date. But I guess it might depend on how severe the ticket fine is. But that's just for most cases though.

[2DXTRM]

To the OP, I dont know what your update is on the situation, either way if you meet with a JP or set a trial date, go back to the place/area/parking spot, you got your ticket and take some pictures of the area and signage (if there were any) and show them that it was not clearly marked/visable when you parked there.

Pictures can be worth those 1000 words.

[sp3GT]

To the OP, I dont know what your update is on the situation, either way if you meet with a JP or set a trial date, go back to the place/area/parking spot, you got your ticket and take some pictures of the area and signage (if there were any) and show them that it was not clearly marked/visable when you parked there.

Pictures can be worth those 1000 words.

Thanks for the suggestions, my buddy already immediately took pictures on the spot after he received the ticket.