Disputing a parking ticket in Vancouver?

A couple of days ago, I got a parking ticket sent to me in the mail from the City of Vancouver. It was for when I'd parked outside a sushi restaurant for literally no more than 5 minutes to pick up some takeout, and when I came out, I saw the meter maid standing at the meter, but there was no ticket on my dash, so I got in my car and drove away.

Now I've got the ticket in the mail and am feeling pretty pissed off about it, and am just wondering if anyone knows my chances of success if I try to dispute the ticket? Does anyone have any experience doing this? Apparently they've changed the rules so that if you try to dispute and you lose, you have to pay $105 as opposed to $35 if you just shut up and pay it right away. But I'm tempted to challenge it because I never got the ticket on my dash in the first place.

I'd love to hear from anyone who's gone through a parking ticket dispute process with the city and what the outcome was.

Thanks!

 

Hi,

I've disputed plenty of speeding tickets but never a parking ticket. I don't think it is worth it in this case because you don't really have a defense and unlike with other tickets, the officer does not have to show up so the ticket won't be dropped.

$35 is not worth the hassle, especially when you are likely to pay more in the end, about $95, depending on how long the dispute takes to process which is about 2 to 3 months.

 

Found this on the CoV website:

 

Thanks for your replies joesix and cheeseshredder--I really appreciate the feedback. I guess I will just pay the $35 and be done with it, to avoid the time and hassle of trying to dispute it (which seems like it would most likely end up with me losing and paying more anyway, judging from the info you posted, cheeseshredder). Argh. The city must be making a lot of parking ticket revenue these days...

Thanks again!

 

Plz don't park there under certain hours. You are blocking traffic. On the way to Metrotown I see many of those assholes park on the block in front of the Curry King and the sushi restaurant over there. Cars get towed daily. I always feel calling the tow company myself. In your case, the tow truck was on its way. Consider yourself lucky.

 

have you added weight!

 

Hi Night of GuardianS, in my situation, there was no risk of being towed as it wasn't a street with limited hours of parking. Just a smaller street with a regular meter and a meter maid who came along in the less than 5 minutes I was parked there. Bad luck on my part. But I agree that people who park on those streets which indicate no parking after 3pm should get towed as they really jam up traffic during rush hour.

 

Something similar happened to me in Burnaby. I just parked while my wife went to the bank machine. When she got out and into my car, I pulled out and she said there was someone writing me a ticket. I did not pay the meter. Got the ticket in the mail. I just paid it.

If you saw the meter maid and you in fact did park without paying or the meter ran out, just pay the ticket. I don't think you can really produce any evidence that you in fact did park legally.

I did dispute a parking ticket once. That time was at a lot ran by Impark, I believe. I did pay for parking and had the pay stub to prove it. The process for disputing this particular ticket was done via the mail. I simply mailed the ticket along with the pay stub which proves I paid for the parking at that time. I never heard back from them, so I assume they accepted that I had indeed paid for the parking.

 

I hear a lot of people just don't pay the tickets. I dunno if the city has made a deal with the mvb to make you pay up during license renewal or not.

 

You can get away from private parking lot companies like DPS and Impark by changing your plates (though they'll still send your ticket to a collections agency) but you can't really avoid city issued tickets.