How to beat parking ticket in Toronto


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/how-to-beat-parking-tickets-in-toronto/article1597458/




ill Mahoney
Globe and Mail Update
Published on Wednesday, Jun. 09, 2010 9:04AM EDT
Last updated on Wednesday, Jun. 09, 2010 10:16AM EDT

Toronto City Council has released previously confidential guidelines http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2010/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-31301.pdf for cancelling parking tickets.

The manual allows city staff to void tickets for a host of reasons, including to give “consideration for medical reasons, age, unusual circumstances, ignorance of by-law etc” – especially for people who live more than 100 kilometres from Toronto.

“Our responsibility is to provide information to the public and to ensure that matters going to trial are of a significant nature,” the 18-page document says.

The guidelines instruct staff to consider drivers’ “circumstances and/or explanation” and any documentation. They should also review customers’ licence plate history for previous parking infractions.

“Where sufficient explanation and/or documentation are presented and it is reasonable to assume the circumstances outlined are likely to have occurred, staff is expected to give the recipient the benefit of the doubt. Where no prior tag history is evident, staff is encouraged to withdraw the ticket,” the manual says.

The release of the confidential document Tuesday night was the subject of wrangling between some city councillors who argued it should be made public and bureaucrats who thought it should remain secret.

Depending on the circumstances, city staff can cancel parking tickets for the following groups:

religious groups attending worship services
drivers who get more than one ticket within a three-hour period for the same offence and pay the first ticket
people who park on the wrong side of the street during regular change-over dates
drivers with disabled parking permits
city councillors on official business
delivery trucks and fast-food delivery vehicles
municipal vehicles
taxis
tour buses
nursing agencies
security companies
utility vehicles
stolen vehicles
In many cases, drivers seeking to cancel parking tickets must provide supporting documentation. For example, the guidelines require the owner of a ticketed delivery vehicle to present a letter signed by a manager on the company’s letterhead stating the vehicle was making a delivery at the time of the infraction in addition to the original waybill matching the particulars of the incident.

Tickets can be cancelled if parking enforcement officers fail to include all required information on the tickets, issue tickets in error or if there was a defective meter.

The manual also notes that under current legislation, the city is “unable to obtain conviction” for parking tickets issued to drivers whose vehicles are registered outside Ontario. However, customer service agents are instructed to “accept payments if offered.”

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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada

Thanks Pramodji,

This guideline is for PARKING TICKETS - not TRAFFIC tickets.

Good to know anyways. Its been on the news all morning.

Hiren

Sorry for the mix up.

I have updated the heading and the post.

Have a nice, parking ticket free day.

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Pramod Chopra
Senior Mortgage Consultant
Mortgage Alliance Company of Canada