parking tickets...

[stylistixs]

so, i received notice yesterday that i have an unpaid parking ticket from July. now, i do tend to wait to the very last day to pay, but i always pay my parking tickets. however, i never received this one and was therefore unaware that i even had one. it was over a month ago, and i'm not exactly sure how to proceed. should i contest the ticket, or

Comments

[kaylla_334]

Unless you're unemployed/a student, contesting a parking ticket can be very stupid and it'll end up costing you much more, i.e. a day's wage, more parking to go to the municipal court, court fees and a bigger fine for contesting, since it's like impossible to prove you weren't there on that day, even if you swear it on your own head.

Same goes for speeding tickets. The only good reason to ever contest them is if you only have 1-2 demerit points left and you'd lose your liscence if pleading/found guilty...

[wendykh]

The exact opposite has been my experience. It's been very rare either I or my husband have paid fines, but when we get the tickets we also take pictures of exactly where we were parked and how (and obviously this means we don't contest if we legitimately earned it) or have proof of an alibi where we were at the time when we were supposedly parked where we weren't (as in we were never even there and a ticket showed up in the mail).

Speeding tickets... almost *always* can be pled down unless you were doing something obnoxious like 140 on the pont champlain. However, pleading down say, a 122 to a 119 can make a monumental difference in fine and points lost.

[taxlady]

Did you lend your car to someone?

[dgg]

Pay it. That happened to me too.

Parking tickets usually get placed on your windshield snugged underneath your windshield wiper, but a heavy wind or some passerby thinking that he'll swipe your ticket and place it on his car to avoid getting a ticket of his own may explain why you never got yours in the first place.

edit Unless of course you can prove that your car was nowhere near the illegal parking spot of the day in question.

[stylistixs]

i'll have to look at the letter more closely. i do believe the address is right next to my work, and if i'm correct, i park they often and this is the only notification i've gotten since. i'll check around for signs and take pictures, but what i'm trying to decide is if the hassle is worth it since it's double a regular parking ticket. hmm.

[morrigane]

I second what dgg saidé Tickets are often stolen by people who want to avoid a ticket themselves. This is why the city started to send reminders one month after the due date.

Check the adress written on the ticket and try to remember if you have parked there... If not contest it. I strongly believe you should never plead guilty to something you did not do.

[her_instrument]

I am new to quebec so I'm not sure how it works here, but in ontario it was very much worth it contesting a ticket, especially one that you did not deserve. Most of the time in ON, the cop won't show up in court, and so the ticket is dismissed and what not, and if they do show up, almost always the judge will lower the fine anyways, especially if what you have to pay is more than the original ticket price and was increased b/c you were so late to pay it. i thought it was worthwhile especially if you could get the morning off work anyways (like you would for a doctor's appointment etc.), and it's not like it's a drawn out process, it's a one time thing that takes a couple hours. maybe someone has had actual experience with it in quebec, I'm not sure if the laws/ situation are completely different.

[kaylla_334]

well you don't know how long it'll take before being there. Everyone gets scheduled for 9 am, and then the judges randomly decides who actually goes first and everyone just wait in the halls until they hear their name screamed out by Mr Bailiff. And unlike in ontario, morning doctor appointments are generally not waged, so neither are whole days waiting around the municipal court.

And even on minimum wage, you make more than the general 42$ parking ticket, so you reallllllllllllllllllllly need to be righteous to think it's worth it :/