Fine for parking in front of a Fire Hydrant.

A

avsjack

Well-known member
So I swung by MEC today on King St West, I left the bike outside while I ran into to by a lock and chain.

I am new to Canada, just passed my M1 exit and only got the bike a few days ago. I had barely driven in the city before and did not realize that you cannot park within three metres of a fire hydrant. I was too excited about the free street parking in the city that I did not even think!

So I walked out the store and saw the yellow ticket for $100 wedged in my seat. Question is, is there anything I can do? I really was not aware about this, but it makes sense now thinking about it. I asked my friends, apparently its common knowledge lol!

I have most certainly learnt my lesson the hard way, but is there any escape routes?

Thanks

Jack
 
You obviously haven't learned your lesson if you want an out from the ticket and you didn't care to learn one of the most basic laws we have about parking...

To answer your question, ignorance will not get the ticket thrown out and I doubt it would get reduced either. If you want to fight it you can try to plead your case but as I said, very unlikely.
 
Hi,

Well I did read both of the books, but I do not recall this. Anyway, I did learn my lesson, as of course I will not be doing this again. I just wish I had spotted the hydrant, not growing up in North America, they are just part of the scenery to me.

Thanks anyway!
 
It's a downtown ticket. Plead not guilty and submit it for a trial. There's a chance it will never see court due to the high volume of tickets. If you do get a court date you can either attend to plead your case (you will most likely lose), attend and pay the fine or don't do anything and pay the fine + late/admin fees when you renew your plate sticker.
 
If you attend court and plead poverty, then there's a chance of having the amount of the ticket reduced. The kicker is that if you work regular hours, then you'll likely lose more than you'll gain by taking time off to do so. There's always a chance that the ticket will get dropped if you file to fight it, as have many city tickets in the past, but this is becoming less and less likely with the city as cash strapped as it is.

In the long run the most reasonable course of action is likely to pay the ticket, learn from it, and avoid it in future.
 
If it's worth for you to take 2 days off (1 for the initial meeting) and 1 for the court date, then go and fight it. Personally I would just pay the fine because I'm 100% in the wrong, whether I knew to park there or not.
 
Thank you for the guidance all!

Mimico, I will just pay the fine as you mentioned I am completely in the wrong, whether I knew it or not.

Thanks for all of the advice, its definitely not going to happen again! Although, I feel that $100 is excessive, I suppose people would risk it all of the time in that case.

Thanks again!
 
I know in Brampton for parking (provincial offense notices) they offer 50% reduction across the board from 'Handicap Parking, Access Aisles to Fire Routes'

So if you got this in Brampton, the ticket clerk at 5 Ray Lawson Boulevard would ask for $50 in exchange for the guilty plea. I'm not sure how it works in Toronto, in Mississauga there is a reduced fine for early payment (within 15-days) on the ticket, and if you go to the First Attendance meeting they give a 50% off on the reduced fine.

Again, i'm not sure how they collect in Toronto
 
It's meant to be "excessive" so that the high fine is a deterrent. If you park in a handicap space or obstruct a handicap ramp it's $250+
 
considering that parking is already 25 bucks in downtown, it should probably be higher...
 
avsjack said:
So I walked out the store and saw the yellow ticket for $100 wedged in my seat. Question is, is there anything I can do? I really was not aware about this, but it makes sense now thinking about it. I asked my friends, apparently its common knowledge lol!
Click to expand...

That's not so bad. At least it is a justifiable/good reason to not be allowed to park/get a ticket.

I'm from out of town, I was in Toronto. I parked on the side of Queen St at 3:20pm, put my VISA in the machine and bought 1 hour of parking, printed me a ticket until 4:20pm (big bold letters right on the front of the ticket) went to Pizza Pizza, came out at 4:06pm to see a meter maid writing me a ticket... Went up to him and said (pardon my french) 'What the **** are you doing I paid to park here until 4:20' opened my door grabbed out the ticket from the dash and showed him... He looked at it and then pointed at a sign on the street about 5 meters ahead of me that said 'No parking 4-6pm' - I said 'I don't care what the sign thats 15 feet away says I paid to park here until 4:20' He said he didn't care what I paid for put the ticket on my window and walked away. $60.

I could have fought it but I would have had to take a day off work, drive to Toronto (220km round trip) and pay another $10 to park when I got there so it would have cost me more than double the cost of the ticket to fight it, so I just paid it. Lesson: don't park in Toronto.
 
Personally, I think a hydrant ticket for a bike is retarded. Like it's really going to be in the way if a fire breaks out. But law is law so use the law to your advantage and get a court date. Explain it was for your bike and it will be at least reduced.
 
tsdexter said:
That's not so bad. At least it is a justifiable/good reason to not be allowed to park/get a ticket.

I'm from out of town, I was in Toronto. I parked on the side of Queen St at 3:20pm, put my VISA in the machine and bought 1 hour of parking, printed me a ticket until 4:20pm (big bold letters right on the front of the ticket) went to Pizza Pizza, came out at 4:06pm to see a meter maid writing me a ticket... Went up to him and said (pardon my french) 'What the **** are you doing I paid to park here until 4:20' opened my door grabbed out the ticket from the dash and showed him... He looked at it and then pointed at a sign on the street about 5 meters ahead of me that said 'No parking 4-6pm' - I said 'I don't care what the sign thats 15 feet away says I paid to park here until 4:20' He said he didn't care what I paid for put the ticket on my window and walked away. $60.

I could have fought it but I would have had to take a day off work, drive to Toronto (220km round trip) and pay another $10 to park when I got there so it would have cost me more than double the cost of the ticket to fight it, so I just paid it. Lesson: don't park in Toronto.
Click to expand...

I think the lesson here, is one has to learn to read the signs.....
 
tsdexter said:
That's not so bad. At least it is a justifiable/good reason to not be allowed to park/get a ticket.

I'm from out of town, I was in Toronto. I parked on the side of Queen St at 3:20pm, put my VISA in the machine and bought 1 hour of parking, printed me a ticket until 4:20pm (big bold letters right on the front of the ticket) went to Pizza Pizza, came out at 4:06pm to see a meter maid writing me a ticket... Went up to him and said (pardon my french) 'What the **** are you doing I paid to park here until 4:20' opened my door grabbed out the ticket from the dash and showed him... He looked at it and then pointed at a sign on the street about 5 meters ahead of me that said 'No parking 4-6pm' - I said 'I don't care what the sign thats 15 feet away says I paid to park here until 4:20' He said he didn't care what I paid for put the ticket on my window and walked away. $60.

I could have fought it but I would have had to take a day off work, drive to Toronto (220km round trip) and pay another $10 to park when I got there so it would have cost me more than double the cost of the ticket to fight it, so I just paid it. Lesson: don't park in Toronto.
Click to expand...

Instead of being a self-righteous ***, the correct response in this situation would be "Thank god they didn't immediately call for a tow." The city is VERY quick about towing cars and bikes during rush hour. What does the distance of the sign have to do with anything? Can you not see 15 feet away? There's also no way in hell that you would've beat that ticket had you fought it.
 
tsdexter said:
That's not so bad. At least it is a justifiable/good reason to not be allowed to park/get a ticket.

I'm from out of town, I was in Toronto. I parked on the side of Queen St at 3:20pm, put my VISA in the machine and bought 1 hour of parking, printed me a ticket until 4:20pm (big bold letters right on the front of the ticket) went to Pizza Pizza, came out at 4:06pm to see a meter maid writing me a ticket... Went up to him and said (pardon my french) 'What the **** are you doing I paid to park here until 4:20' opened my door grabbed out the ticket from the dash and showed him... He looked at it and then pointed at a sign on the street about 5 meters ahead of me that said 'No parking 4-6pm' - I said 'I don't care what the sign thats 15 feet away says I paid to park here until 4:20' He said he didn't care what I paid for put the ticket on my window and walked away. $60.

I could have fought it but I would have had to take a day off work, drive to Toronto (220km round trip) and pay another $10 to park when I got there so it would have cost me more than double the cost of the ticket to fight it, so I just paid it. Lesson: don't park in Toronto.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the sign overrides anything else, so it doesn't matter that you bought a ticket. Now a reasonable person might wonder why they wouldn't programme the ticket dispenser to not give out tickets during a period of time when parking is prohibited, but the answer to that is fairly obvious.
 
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