patrick.net

I have gotten tickets before and put them other cars wiper blades, so they would think it was for them and pay it.

Or if I'm arriving and the car next to me has a ticket. I'll grab their ticket and put it on my car, so the meeter maid, thinks I already got ticketed.

It's definitely my car. Of course, when they ticket they look at and write down the vin and plate.

But they clearly did NOT write it down when they supposedly checked it. Now I have the resources to bring down that cabal.

But how?

CaptainShuddup says

I have gotten tickets before and put them other cars wiper blades, so they would think it was for them and pay it.

Or if I'm arriving and the car next to me has a ticket. I'll grab their ticket and put it on my car, so the meeter maid, thinks I already got ticketed.

You're quite the scumbag.

SFace says

If it is limit and I suspect it is, just contest it and bring your fastrak statement, highlight it and you will win. Hell, I'll mail the fastrak payment (highlight it) along with the appeals letter with the citation #.

There is nothing to "escalate" A meter maid checks as much as 500-1000 cars in the two hours route and it can very well be an honest mistake.

Yeah. O/T parking.

But (I'm no stranger to their ways, either) how can it be an honest mistake, when they are claiming to have marked the vehicle as being there in the first place?

How do they "honestly" mark a vehicle as there when it is not? Aren't these policies firm?

I really don't care about the $72, but I do think they should be held accountable for betraying their trust. What if it were a poor person scammed like this?

If a guy who has this many data points can't bring justice, who can?

I'm calling 7 on your side, or Stanley Roberts!

Oh, and a co-worker just had the same issue with the same officer.

SFace says

I dunno what to say. Instead of trying move the car every two hours, gulp, pay $15-$25 to park (non-covered).

It's $20!! :) And I hear ya, but that's the thing. I wasn't here when they said I was, so it's unpossible!

I can pay it and forget it, but it seems like rewarding incompetence at the least, or criminal behavior at worst. I wonder how many on the street shrug it off?

Should I let it go unchallenged? If not me, who? If not now, when?!?!?!

ducsingle5313 says

You're quite the scumbag.

I do what I can...

don't let this go. sometimes you can't help but take it personally.

do everything you can to bring this corrupted individual to justice.

IDDQD says

Of course not. Always fight this stuff. Just don't set your expectations too high: the maximum you'll get is your money back.

Thanks for that. I really, really, really want to get satisfaction here. I'm sure I'm setting myself up for disappointment. I want someone to get suspended or fired.

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

Call the local consumer advocate reporter at all of the TV stations and tell them what you have - primary documentation proving the ticket is bogus and that the city is trying to collect illegally and with knowledge of its malfeasance.

I'm with you on the first part. Look for me on "People Behaving Badly!!"

Mark D says

don't let this go. sometimes you can't help but take it personally.

do everything you can to bring this corrupted individual to justice.

Yes!! I'm going to!

I once got a ticket for not turning my wheels toward the curb when parked on a flat street in SF. Turns out the street was at a barely perceptible 3% grade.

I promised I will never drive to SF again, and so far pretty much held to that. I take Caltrain or BART.

I once got a ticket for not turning my wheels toward the curb when parked on a flat street in SF. Turns out the street was at a barely perceptible 3% grade.

Yep. They do that. That's why I said I'm no stranger to their ways. In Chicago I was the pro at all forms of parking, given their seemingly contradictory signs on any given block (no parking from September through November for sweeping, but no parking from November through April for snow removal, etc).

This is riotous brigandage.

CL says

Yeah. O/T parking.

CL says

It's $20!! :) And I hear ya, but that's the thing. I wasn't here when they
said I was, so it's unpossible!

Well apparently you weren't there when they thought you had been, as in a continuous rotation in a given area. Was it a meter or a marked or posted parking spot for X amount of time(hours)?

Are they using tire marks, or plate-reading technology, because they have to have some way of starting your time if it's a marked time period spot.

If you are absolutely sure of your evidence, then as AS suggested, TV stations are the best to go. Else at the most they will let you not pay and even that is such a pain with them. Perhaps a lazy meter maid hoping to fill his quota for the day and not willing to do the real work.

Nowadays they don't even hide behind safety and openly raise parking or speeding fines and openly discuss how much revenue it is going to bring.

upisdown says

Well apparently you weren't there when they thought you had been, as in a continuous rotation in a given area. Was it a meter or a marked or posted parking spot for X amount of time(hours)?

Are they using tire marks, or plate-reading technology, because they have to have some way of starting your time if it's a marked time period spot.

Historically they had a few ways of determining you were there. They used to chalk your tires (which I haven't seen them do much near me lately), or they "record" your plates. For that, I think they migrated from pen and paper to some electronic device akin to the Fedex and UPS shipping readers. For those, they are entering your plate and then after the allotted time, come back and see if you are anywhere on the same block. If so, you get a ticket.

My ticket shows they recorded me at 8:30, and ticketed at 9:45 for one hour parking overtime. Street parking, no meter.

Problem was I hadn't left my house yet, crossed the bridge at 8:52, and parked on the street at 9:05. Ticketed 40 minutes later.

So, how can I have been heading westbound on the Bay Bridge 20 minutes after they recorded me?

There is no honest way they can mistake a car as having been there.

Reminds me a bit of the City Tow corruption a while back.

CL says

My ticket shows they recorded me at 8:30, and ticketed at 9:45 for one hour
parking overtime. Street parking, no meter.

Part of the reason to use the plate-reading technology is to be able to prove their violation, along with on-the-go type of technology so as to be able to cover more area, or park to conserve gas.
A big kicker is the lost time off from work to fight a ticket, and most places price the ticket amounts to deal with that issue so they're never contested.
it reminds me of the airport scanners and how the government claimed it counldn't record any images. yhen why do it then, and where would the proof be for prosecution?

Make them prove it by showing the initial entry into their system of your plate, along with your other electronic proof. You're lucky, because some munincipalities will tow the vehicle in a very short time afterwards(happened to me while out of town for work, and all towing storage is "indoors").
The majority don't contest the tickets, and most parking tickets that I've got over the years only give you like 5-7 days to pay it or the ticket doubles.

software error reading your plates .. welcome to the modern era.