“Courteous” driver hammered with $450 parking ticket

There’s a lot of truth to the old saying that nice guys (and gals) finish last.

I’ve been writing lately about confusing and contradictory parking signs, which are misunderstood by drivers and invariably result in a parking ticket, leaving them to feel victimized.

And the parking enforcement vultures who issue the tickets are heartless, setting upon vehicles that are eligible for a ticket like starving dogs.

Beth Barrington emailed about a different twist on the ticket trap, which bit her a few months ago during a trip to Kensington Market and has her regretting that she tried to be considerate of others.

Barrington, who lives in Mississauga and seldom drives downtown, decided to use the car to take her sister-in-law, who was visiting from out of town, to the market on a Saturday morning.

She cruised around looking for parking spot and found one on College St., near a series of confusing signs on the same pole, including one about a disabled parking space.

After purchasing a pay-and-display ticket and putting it on the dash of the car, she noticed that the vehicle in front of her “was parked half a car length or more from the one in front of it.

“I had my sister-in-law stand on the sidewalk and guide me back, so as to make room for two cars to park, once the other car had left.

“I was being courteous!

“You can imagine my horror upon returning to find a $450 ticket on my windshield. It seems that because I tried to be a courteous driver and use as little space as possible,” she had encroached on part of a disabled parking space, just enough to qualify for a ticket, said Barrington.

“I realize now that I parked somewhere that I shouldn’t have, but I also feel that it wasn’t done deliberately and that the signs are confusing.”

She went to the city and filed for a court date, “and I have to say I felt like a common criminal standing in line,” she said, adding that she never before got a parking ticket in her life.

It’s a particularly egregious example of the perils of inner city parking.

Stand warned. Look at the signs closely. If you can’t figure them out, park somewhere else.  

  

 

 

Comments

[david sarile]

I am a medical doctor. I was driving along Bayview Avenue when I got a page on my beeper. I pulled over to answer my page on my cell phone and the only spot was in front of a hydrant. The parking enforcement officer rudely interrupted me to move out of the spot. I tried to explain to him what i was doing that I was answering an emergency call but he said he did not care.

[Bert Dandy]

Yeah, we have heard this before. If you don't want a ticket, just don't park in a handicapped area. Not for a few minutes or a few seconds, not because you were in a hurry, and not because you don't know the limits of your car's size. Do the crime, do the time!