I received a parking ticket while downtown during an interview last week.
Five days later, I am still a tad put out and here is why:
• I didn’t notice a sign saying I couldn’t park on this small side street.
• I did notice the car behind me had a parking permit on its windshield. So I called the woman I was interviewing and asked if she knew if I could park on this residential street. She said the parking permit was so the resident could park overnight on his street and it was fine for me to be there.
Great.
So I interviewed this woman about pottery (fascinating, both the subject and the woman) and walked back to my car to find a yellow ticket flapping on my windshield.
According to the Toronto parking authority, you unable to park on this street Monday to Saturday from midnight to 7 p.m.
As I am terribly bad at directions, and I can’t parallel park, I always grab the first drive-in spot I can find.
In this case, it was pretty far down the road. As I was driving out, parking ticket beside me, I noticed the no parking sign at the top of the street.
I am paying the $30 ticket not because I think it’s right but because I am not driving back downtown to fight it.
It’s not worth it.
However, I did send a note along with my cheque with a suggestion to the City of Toronto.
Prior to hosting the 2015 Pan Am Games, the city needs to come up with some consistent parking rules and post multiple signs for the dos and don’ts of parking downtown.
I am not a mind reader. I don’t live in the City of Toronto so I do not know which streets allow parking on which side on which day. I don’t know which streets allow you to park without a permit and which ones require you to purchase the right to park.
I do not mind paying to park. In fact, I would rather just pay to avoid receiving a ticket.
So here is a suggestion for the money-hungry city – install ticketed parking metres on one side of every street.
That way people will know where to without having to read the City of Toronto parking manual.
On a side note, no matter how angry I was about receiving a ticket, I would not punch the parking person in the face, as one man is accused of doing in East York over the weekend.
Regardless, parking ticket people are just doing their jobs and the driver who is accused of the sucker punch should give his head a shake and get some help for his obvious anger issues.
7 comments:
Obvious anger issues is right. For some reason some people don't get that just because you don't like the rules doesn't mean you can hit people.
Oooo, Canadian parking ticket!- very exotic! I know how you feel. I got a parking ticket when I was parked LEGALLY on my scooter! Even worse, the ticket blew off (because, hello? where do you put a ticket on a scooter?!) and I didn't know about it until I received a bill for it AND the late fee in the mail a month later!! Parking authorities are evil. Maybe they are just doing their jobs, but maybe they could be better at it?
Anyway, that was a nice little rant. Cute blog and thanks for stopping by mine! Yay health care!
I have to say I understand you completely...parking systems can really suck most of the time.
:-( I understand... When I go to the beach the worst ending to a day is to have a parking ticket - they're militant in the summer!
Sometimes I think the parking police are hiding just waiting for you to park so they can give you a ticket.
But, it could have been worse, you could have come out of your interview and your car could have been gone.....towed away! A $30.00 ticket for parking isn't that bad. Had you parked at an underground it probably would have cost you more.
:)
That sucks about the ticket. I got a ticket here in Belize once but I took it in to fight it. The guy just looked at me, said, "You got that for parking across the street didn't you?" I said yes so he took it in the back, came back to me a minute later and had voided it. They've put up a no parking sign there now.
Cheers :-)
- CoconutPalmDesigns
GRRRR..... I wouldn't fight it either, but sending a note was smart!
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