Parked my Bike in Excess of 3 Hours

**Bender613** · 12-22-2011, 03:52 PM

I got a ticket on my street for parking in excess 3 hours between 7 to 7. What pises me off is that there was no ticket on my bike, and today I got a letter in the mail saying I had to pay. I'm religious about going out every 3 hours and checking my bike for chalk and I don't remember ever getting chalked on my street. Also, it happened on a Tuesday when I always have a girl over who I then give a ride to her university. Her class starts at 2:30 so I leave at 2 and I'm usually back home at 3:00. I got the ticket at 3:17. I always park in the exact same spot because it's right beside my driveway so no car takes it because they'd be too close.

I have no concrete proof that I took her to school that day, but if I print out her schedule and have her write a letter saying I give her a ride to school every Tuesday and took a picture of the spot to show the justice that no other car parks there so I always put my bike there, would I have a chance at getting it dropped?

**OpenGambit** · 12-22-2011, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by Bender613

I got a ticket on my street for parking in excess 3 hours between 7 to 7. What pises me off is that there was no ticket on my bike, and today I got a letter in the mail saying I had to pay. I'm religious about going out every 3 hours and checking my bike for chalk and I don't remember ever getting chalked on my street. Also, it happened on a Tuesday when I always have a girl over who I then give a ride to her university. Her class starts at 2:30 so I leave at 2 and I'm usually back home at 3:00. I got the ticket at 3:17. I always park in the exact same spot because it's right beside my driveway so no car takes it because they'd be too close.

I have no concrete proof that I took her to school that day, but if I print out her schedule and have her write a letter saying I give her a ride to school every Tuesday and took a picture of the spot to show the justice that no other car parks there so I always put my bike there, would I have a chance at getting it dropped?

Completely ignore everything you said about how you park there every day. I is completely irelevant. just show up and say you got the ticket at 3:17 and that there was no way you were there for 3 hrs and print the schedule.

Letter is useless in court but you might be able to show it to the prosecutor and say that she is willing to follow up with an affidavit saying the same. But having her show up is best..

That being said... its a pretty cheap ticket...

**S500K** · 12-22-2011, 04:15 PM

Yep, i got a ticket like that too for the FIRST time about 4 months ago outside my house. Been living at the same address for 14 years now, always parked on the street in front of my house to free up space for my guest on my driveway or because since I come home first I'd take the space on the street until my mom came home to park in the garage and then Id park on the driveway and my dad....sucks when you have 3 cars and only a 2 spot driveway so that was our system.....just took us by surprise because it was the first time in 14yrs (but its actually a by-law since 2005, go figure), but we fought it and won - ill keep my $20 thank you

stupid city.

**Bender613** · 12-22-2011, 05:00 PM

I go by the place to contest tickets regularly so it's just a quick stop for me. Thanks!

**OpenGambit** · 12-22-2011, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Bender613

I go by the place to contest tickets regularly so it's just a quick stop for me. Thanks!

I would take out the "quick" part.

**Bender613** · 12-22-2011, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by OpenGambit

I would take out the "quick" part.

I'm actually from Ottawa and it's a $55 ticket so it's the quickest way for me to make that back. :P

**ATTS** · 12-23-2011, 02:25 AM

How are you going to proove that you took the motorcycle that day? I don't know if it is different in Ottawa but when I was in Mississauga I got a ticket for being parked on the street for three hours even though I took my car to the store and came back in that time slot.

I went to the courthouse with my ticket and my receipt. I had to see someone first about setting up the court date and told them what my proof was that would get the ticket thrown out in court. He asked me that exact question...how can I proove that it was that vehicle that I took to the store?

Since that is impossible unless I received a 407 charge or a ticket from a cop in that time period or got a video from some surveilance then I couldn't proove it. He changed the price of the ticket and since I would have had to taken a full day off work to go fight it in court it would have cost me more money to get it thrown out then to pay it.

Stupid system means I still had to pay for a ticket I did not deserve or loose my hard earned money from missing a day of work.

**OpenGambit** · 12-23-2011, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by ATTS

How are you going to proove that you took the motorcycle that day? I don't know if it is different in Ottawa but when I was in Mississauga I got a ticket for being parked on the street for three hours even though I took my car to the store and came back in that time slot.

I went to the courthouse with my ticket and my receipt. I had to see someone first about setting up the court date and told them what my proof was that would get the ticket thrown out in court. He asked me that exact question...how can I proove that it was that vehicle that I took to the store?

Since that is impossible unless I received a 407 charge or a ticket from a cop in that time period or got a video from some surveilance then I couldn't proove it. He changed the price of the ticket and since I would have had to taken a full day off work to go fight it in court it would have cost me more money to get it thrown out then to pay it.

Stupid system means I still had to pay for a ticket I did not deserve or loose my hard earned money from missing a day of work.

1. its not your job to prove it. its theirs
2. he just reduced your ticket to make it not worthwhile for you to fight it.

He basically offered you a plea bargain and you took it. but the idea that you have to prove it is just straight up wrong.

PS. your sworn testimony of the facts is evidence of those facts. I have beaten more than one ticket by swearing that I didn't do it (which was the truth, of course).

**Rob MacLennan** · 12-23-2011, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by OpenGambit

1. its not your job to prove it. its theirs
2. he just reduced your ticket to make it not worthwhile for you to fight it.

He basically offered you a plea bargain and you took it. but the idea that you have to prove it is just straight up wrong.

Agreed; the onus is on the city, to show that you're guilty. Reasonable doubt is all that's required, to get off the ticket.

Unfortunately it seems that bylaw officers are under a fair bit of pressure, to write tickets these days. A couple of weeks back I received a ticket for "park vehicle on private property without consent", from the city. This was on a Sunday, in a private lot where I've parked on multiple previous occasions over the years, where there is no parking attendant and the gates are thrown open for parking, because they don't make enough on Sundays to pay for an attendant. It would have cost me far more than the $35.00 of the ticket to fight it, which is no doubt what they count on, so I just paid it.

**ATTS** · 12-26-2011, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by OpenGambit

He basically offered you a plea bargain and you took it.

Yep, it would have cost me more in gas to get back to the courthouse then it did to pay the amount they reduced it to.

**OpenGambit** · 12-26-2011, 01:40 PM

I have been paying my parking tickets full stop because it is only marginally more expensive than actually paying for parking... and hell you don't always get ticketed so.... its just economics.

**zeekat** · 12-28-2011, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by Rob MacLennan

Unfortunately it seems that bylaw officers are under a fair bit of pressure, to write tickets these days.

Ain't that the truth. About 2 weeks ago, I went to fight my parking ticket from last October ... this one was worth fighting. Spent hours in preparation ... armed with pictures ... bylaw officer never showed up ... dismissed. Returning to the scene of the crime ... about a half km away, I think I passed the bylaw officer out looking for more victims.

Have to admit the one hour I spent in court listening to the other cases before me (all guilty pleas) was educational. Learned something very surprising. Apparently in Markham, you can get a ticket (or even towed) at any time for 'obstructing' snow plows. In one case, the driver parked their vehicle (mid-day) after the plows had already been through. It was a pretty snowy day and he got burned by a second pass thru. For someone else, same thing except the plows never came.

Judge asked the prosecutor if it snowed in August, could a ticket be issued ... answer was yes ... in the case of the no-show plows, the judge rejected the guilty plea and ordered a trial citing that the prosecution cannot prove that the vehicle 'obstructed' snow plows because they never came through. The downside is the person having to take a second day off for the trial now after this.