Thursday, January 27, 2011

You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me

I received a parking ticket Sunday morning.

This is not the first one I have received. I used to get them when I lived with my boyfriend (now husband) at his home in Pickering, Ontario.

There were not enough driveway spaces so someone had to park on the road and that person often got a ticket.

I got a ticket in the City of Toronto once. That made me really angry.

This ticket has made me equally angry. Almost a week later and I am still steaming about it.

Last weekend, the babe and I stayed over at my parents’ house in a small town in the Town of Caledon. My parents have lived at this address for more than 30 years. It’s a dead-end street with seven houses on it, including my parents’.

Saturday night I parked where I always park, backed into the end of the street. I went to move my car early Sunday morning because the plow (and not a town plow but a truck with a plow on it) was clearing the couple inches of snow that had fallen over night.

And it was then I discovered the yellow ticket sitting on my dash. The time of issue –about 3 a.m.

Apparently, you are not allowed to park on Town of Caledon streets from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. I did not know this.

I can pay the $30 tax grab within seven days of issue, which assumes I am guilty. Or I can set a court date, spend more than three hours commuting, wasting a day of vacation time and losing a day with my guy to fight the ticket.

I will pay this ticket Town of Caledon, but I am not happy about it.

If I was parked on a main street or in a subdivision clogged with cars, then perhaps I deserved a ticket. But I parked on what could be considered a private road in a spot I have been using for 20 years at a time when no one is around.

Maybe the money used to hire overnight staff can instead be used to place no parking signs at the entrances to the towns and on all roadways.

9 comments:

TornadoTwos said...

That's rediculous, I'd be mad too! Sounds exactly like the neighboorhood I live in and I couldn't imagine if I got a ticket for parking on the street here. Although we did have the police stop at our house once to warn us about moving our vehicles off the road when it snows so the plow could do his thing. (It was my dad's, actually and we had no keys!)
I'd pay it though, I tried to fight one once and it was a giant pain in the butt.

Nicole said...

At 3 am? That's ridiculous!

MommyToTwoBoys said...

What kind of rules are those? From 2Am to 6AM? Crazy!!!

Betty said...

I really don't think the "parking" authorities would be out on a dead end street unless someone called.

Maybe whoever called thought it looked suspious called the police and WOW you got a ticket.

Guess the people on the street don't know your car.

Maybe you should visit each house and introduce E to them.

Just a thought.

Another thought..... next time, why don't you just park in front of your parents house??????

Saretta said...

How annoying! I get tickets occasionally, too, but usually because I have done some wildly illegal parking job that here in southern Italy are just part of parking survival! LOL! Sometimes I get busted!
Btw, found you through SITS!

Unknown said...

Seriously???!! I can't believe you got a ticket there! That's almost like someone had to call and report you, because really, I can't imagine parking enforcement even ENTERING A****, let alone that street! UNBELIEVABLE!!

mypixieblog said...

That's happened to me more times than I'd like to admit, but every time I see the paper rustling in the wind I get immediately agitated.

I'm so sorry that happened; and ridiculous they would issue it at 3am!!!

white collar | green soul said...

Hey! I have discovered that most towns in good ol' Ontario do not allow parking between 2-6... London, Cambridge. It's very frustrating and I have been ticketed more than once. Hammertown, however, is not one of them! :) Glad to know about Caledon... I'll add it to my 'list'.

Visiting from SITS - glad to see a fellow Canadian get featured!

- agata.

Unknown said...

I live in DC and getting tickets is something that happens oh-so-regularly but that doesn't make it any easier. They are so mean! I get most of my tickets because 1.) I forget to update one of the 4 stickers in various areas on my car... which all require me to give money to the county in order to maintain and they are all due at different times of the year or 2.) because the parking signs in DC are 3-4 on top of each other and it's so hard to figure out which one trumps the other! ugh. I feel your pain.