Parking Ticket - Case Dismissed!

[ecotourist]

Back in ancient times I disputed a campus parking ticket. I wrote a letter (remember those?) pointing out I had been parked right under a visitor's parking sign and had been using my vehicle to haul class related surveying equipment for a group of us. They cancelled the ticket and even sent a letter of apology.

Turns out the visitor's parking sign was actually wonky and I had been parked in one of my professor's parking spaces. But it was an honest mistake.

 

[wwillson]

I got a parking ticket from Oak Park, IL a few years ago. The ticket had the correct VIN and license plate for my Durango, but the ticket said the car was a Hyundai. My guess is the license plate number was very similar to mine and the number was fat fingered. I hadn't been in Oak Park for months and when I asked the Durango if it had sneaked out to go clubbing, it said no. It took me several emails and phone calls over the course of a couple months, but I got the city to realize it wasn't me. I never had to go to court. We were in Montana at the time, which I could also prove.

 

[y_p_w]

Back in ancient times I disputed a campus parking ticket. I wrote a letter (remember those?) pointing out I had been parked right under a visitor's parking sign and had been using my vehicle to haul class related surveying equipment for a group of us. They cancelled the ticket and even sent a letter of apology.

Turns out the visitor's parking sign was actually wonky and I had been parked in one of my professor's parking spaces. But it was an honest mistake.

I got a campus parking ticket once. It was this really weird setup though. I mostly rode my bike to school but got this book of limited parking passes for the entire year. I had to mark the specific month and day with a pen going through. I parked in a normal student garage, but we had parking lots where cars with student permits could park after a certain time and the public could park for a hourly or flat rate fee. I was going to an event on the other side of campus and then tossed the pass quickly, but apparently got it date side down. After I got the ticket I contested the citation and sent the completed pass as proof that I had a properly marked pass. I didn't lie and claim that it was correct side up. I got it dismissed as a "courtesy" although the response indicated that they saw a pass with the date on the wrong side.

I do remember once coming to school in the morning where I found a spot in my favorite surface lot. There was a parking enforcement officer in his (I kid you not) Harley who was proudly showing off the boot that had been attached to vehicle with unpaid parking citations (I believe he said it required at least 10). I think that was kind of a warning, but he wasn't rude to anyone. Just beaming like a proud parent.

But I wonder what the citation is for parking here without a permit.

 

[gathermewool]

I parked at a beach parking lot and the first machine took my money but wouldn’t print a ticket. The placard stated that the info was all in the system, but the ticket could (not should) be posted in the windshield. Right…

I went to another kiosk and paid more for a ticket. Luckily it registered that I had already paid before and extended the time from the other purchase, so I didn’t have to come back to the car to pay for more time all day. Dumb, but not TOO dumb.

 

[MRC01]

Bingo. I still have a flip-phone and I despise there being a requirement to have an app.
If a vendor or other entity requires an app, I turn for the door.

Agreed. Unless that entity is the government, in which case we have little choice.

 

[MRC01]

... [UC Berkeley Nobel Laureate parking ] ...

I saw that sign years ago when we visited the Berkeley campus with my daughter. They are just bragging, but it's priceless!

 

[y_p_w]

I saw that sign years ago when we visited the Berkeley campus with my daughter. They are just bragging, but it's priceless!

It's one of those weird things. I recall when all it said on the parking sign was "NL" which wasn't that informative if you didn't know what it was. I'd seen a few of the cars parked in those spaces, and one prof had an old DeSoto.

It's been copied at other places. This one can only be used by Professor Yuan T. Lee at National Taiwan University, who is the only faculty member with a Nobel Prize. He won it while at UC Berkeley, although he eventually returned to Taiwan after retiring.

This prof was the only Nobel Prize winner at the University of Missouri, and he got his own dedicated bike parking rack, although I where I've gone to school remember seeing a few professors just take their bikes into their offices. But he says he'll fix any tickets.

The perfect gift // Show Me Mizzou // University of Missouri

Mizzou honors Nobel Laureate with parking space, for his bike

showme.missouri.edu

Smith doesn't plan on being greedy with his space.​

​

"If you want to park your bike in the space, please do," Smith said. "If you get a ticket, come see me. I'll take care of it."​

I mentioned my student parking. I went that one year where I got the book of daily passes, although I screwed up because I didn't know that it was one book for the whole year and not just the semester. I thought I could buy another one for spring. But three of four years I got a regular student parking permit, which was a hang tag. I could either prepay for a calendar month and place a sticker on the permit, or pay a daily parking fee. When I had the monthly, I could park in better lots at night and weekends. We also had assorted machines. I think my first year it was just 75 cents a day and most of the machines were mechanical ones where I needed quarters to get serial numbered tickets. I'm not sure how they knew if it was purchased on a specific day. They also had these electronic dispensers that printed the date of purchase and where I could select a daily student rate. I think by my senior year, daily student parking was up to maybe $5.