Getting out of a traffic ticket

[poppe]

Hello,

So I recently got a parking ticket. Now I've been told that you can dispute the ticket if the information is incorrect, which it is. On the ticket it says my license place number but then says it's a California plate (which it's not), and it says under time that it was written at 0451. Now I'm assuming that 0451 means 4:51, and since I picked the ticket up off my car at 11:30 a.m. it must mean 4:51 a.m, which means the ticket was given to me at a time when I am allowed to park there; there is a sign that displays no parking except 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.

So my question is this: Could you guys help me with writing this dispute? I am not good at writing formal letters, especially ones like this. If you could just help me with some key points to say and exactly why those reasons above show I shouldn't get the ticket that would be great.

Thank you

 

[panoz7]

it must mean 4:51 a.m, which means the ticket was given to me at a time when I am allowed to park there; there is a sign that displays no parking 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Not to be entirely obvious but 4:51 AM is between 6 PM and 8 AM.

 

[artalliance]

I got a completely unjustified parking ticket in LA a few years ago. The officer wrote down the wrong meter number, maybe even on purpose (a place where you weren't allowed to park after 4:00pm). I took evidence picture with my car, even called another cop. He told me, yes I was right but I wouldn't testify against his fellow officer. So I wrote a long letter, but it didn't help. They argued that I could have moved the car!!!

I still had to pay the ticket :-(
All that after waisting hours communicating with the city. How much is your ticket?

 

[poppe]

Not to be entirely obvious but 4:51 AM is between 6 PM and 8 AM.

Sorry I mean you can park between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. Then after it is 1 hour parking.

I got a completely unjustified parking ticket in LA a few years ago. The officer wrote down the wrong meter number, maybe even on purpose (a place where you weren't allowed to park after 4:00pm). I took evidence picture with my car, even called another cop. He told me, yes I was right but I wouldn't testify against his fellow officer. So I wrote a long letter, but it didn't help. They argued that I could have moved the car!!!

I still had to pay the ticket :-(
All that after waisting hours communicating with the city. How much is your ticket?

Well its only 50 dollars, but I'm also living off of 300 a month so... its quite a lot...

 

[panoz7]

Sorry I mean you can park between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. Then after it is 1 hour parking.

OK... that's what I figured, but sometimes places can be screwy like that, especially if it's a parallel space on a street with businesses; there's often no parking at night so that deliveries can be made.

It might be a silly mistake, but make sure you're sure that it's not backwards before you write a lengthy letter. If you've got it right there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to win a fight.

I've never paid a parking ticket. I've gotten 3 at my university and I've fought every single one of them and won. It's certainly doable, especially if you know that you're right.

 

[artalliance]

If you really think you got an unjustified ticket, it might be more efficient to go to city hall instead of writing letters. In LA, it takes months to get a written response. In the meantime, if you don't won't to get booted or smacked with interest, you would have to pay the ticket anyway until the conflict is resolved. Sucks, I know!

 

[TheBobcat]

Around here in East Lansing, they have a real scam with parking. All over the city, there's these signs that say "No Parking 12am-2am". However, you can get a ticket parking there at 4am, like my friend did.

Why? Because when you enter the city, theres a sign that says "No Parking on Any Street 2am-6am" which, doesn't legally have to mentioned on any other signs but the ones at the entrance. I know because he tried to fight it saying the signs were misleading. Their response was "you should have saw the sign when you entered the city".

 

[xUKHCx]

If you really think you got an unjustified ticket, it might be more efficient to go to city hall instead of writing letters. In LA, it takes months to get a written response. In the meantime, if you don't won't to get booted or smacked with interest, you would have to pay the ticket anyway until the conflict is resolved. Sucks, I know!

In the UK if you pay then you no longer have the right to contest. But then again if you contest any time count downs etc. are put on hold until the response. Just in case the law is different from state to state.

Around here in East Lansing, they have a real scam with parking. All over the city, there's these signs that say "No Parking 12am-2am". However, you can get a ticket parking there at 4am, like my friend did.

Why? Because when you enter the city, theres a sign that says "No Parking on Any Street 2am-6am" which, doesn't legally have to mentioned on any other signs but the ones at the entrance. I know because he tried to fight it saying the signs were misleading. Their response was "you should have saw the sign when you entered the city".

I got stung like this in the UK, was parked right underneath a sign saying i was allowed to park but missed a sign about 100m before saying i was entering a parking restricted area. I contested showing the pictures of my car underneath the sign but to be told about the other sign, later went back and they were technically correct but come on.

 

[poppe]

OK... that's what I figured, but sometimes places can be screwy like that, especially if it's a parallel space on a street with businesses; there's often no parking at night so that deliveries can be made.

It might be a silly mistake, but make sure you're sure that it's not backwards before you write a lengthy letter. If you've got it right there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to win a fight.

I've never paid a parking ticket. I've gotten 3 at my university and I've fought every single one of them and won. It's certainly doable, especially if you know that you're right.

Ok awesome!! I know for sure it is the time I said and they are wrong because leaving on such a shoe string budget I have been very cautious not to get one, well that was until I was on spring break and forgot I left my car on my gals street.

If you really think you got an unjustified ticket, it might be more efficient to go to city hall instead of writing letters. In LA, it takes months to get a written response. In the meantime, if you don't won't to get booted or smacked with interest, you would have to pay the ticket anyway until the conflict is resolved. Sucks, I know!

I called the company and they said that the ticket is put on hold once they receive a response. But going to city hall works too? I thought the only way to respond was to go write a letter.

 

[artalliance]

I called the company and they said that the ticket is put on hold once they receive a response. But going to city hall works too? I thought the only way to respond was to go write a letter.

It's great if they are willing to put it on hold. So a nice letter might be the best solution in your case.
Going directly to city hall is usually not recommended but I had some luck (not with tickets but with building permits) with going and talking face to face instead of over the phone/in writing.

 

[IJ Reilly]

If this ticket was in the City of Los Angeles, then good luck to you. My wife was ticketed for a parking meter violation in downtown L.A., even though she was displaying a handicapped placard and even though cars displaying a handicapped placard are supposed to be exempt from feeding parking meters. She wrote an appeal letter, which was denied, for no stated reason. It was easier to pay than to fight it any further.

The good news is this isn't an actual "traffic" ticket. No points on your record. Those are what really count!

 

[poppe]

If this ticket was in the City of Los Angeles, then good luck to you. My wife was ticketed for a parking meter violation in downtown L.A., even though she was displaying a handicapped placard and even though cars displaying a handicapped placard are supposed to be exempt from feeding parking meters. She wrote an appeal letter, which was denied, for no stated reason. It was easier to pay than to fight it any further.

The good news is this isn't an actual "traffic" ticket. No points on your record. Those are what really count!

Well that sucks. Well it was in the OC. Though I can't imagine that being much different than LA. I am curious if they could even do anything since they don't have the correct state to which my license plate was issued. On the ticket it says: my license plate number + CA. When it should say: license plate number + TX.

 

[Abstract]

Around here in East Lansing, they have a real scam with parking. All over the city, there's these signs that say "No Parking 12am-2am". However, you can get a ticket parking there at 4am, like my friend did.

Why? Because when you enter the city, theres a sign that says "No Parking on Any Street 2am-6am" which, doesn't legally have to mentioned on any other signs but the ones at the entrance. I know because he tried to fight it saying the signs were misleading. Their response was "you should have saw the sign when you entered the city".

That is retarded.

 

[FrankBlack]

It varies from state to state, and sometimes it can even vary at the county or town level. Best to find out your state or local law first. Do this as quickly as possible, as there is always a time limit on when you may appeal a parking ticket. Yours sounds like a valid appeal, as the state was recorded wrong. Dont' know if that will help or not, but it might be worth a shot of you have the time to do this. Bear with me,,,,

In Massachusetts, you have the right to appeal a parking ticket within ten business days from the date the ticket was issued. You then must appeal it to a "parking official". (Man, I love that one!) This person will let it stand or dismiss it. I have heard of people getting them dismissed in Boston, a city notorious for Parking tickets. They usually get dismissed because the license plate was recorded improperly, or the time was wrong.

The answer to your question is yes, I did successfully appeal a parking ticket on one occasion. It was issued in Belmont, a town that has no meters, but does have parking coupon machines at the entrances to its municipal lots. You must park, trudge over to the machine, buy a coupon (fifty cents for an hour) and place it on your dash, facing up. I got in line at the coupon machine behind an elderly gent who could not quite understand the machine. He got it, eventually. I returned to my car, coupon in hand, to find a parking officer (100, perhaps 200 years old, I'm not really sure) writing me a parking ticket. I explained the situation, but was gruffly told that once a ticket is written, that's it. No, the coupon I held, with the time stamp on it, would not do. Thus, I appealed it, using the time-stamped and dated coupon as my "evidence". I had actually bought the coupon two minutes before the time indicated on the ticket.

The Belmont parking official, (a hard-core civil service type all the way) Looked at both items and said "Ok, dismissed". That was it, done in less than a minute. A small victory? No, but it made me feel a little better.

So yes, I'd find out how to go about appealing it your location.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Well that sucks. Well it was in the OC. Though I can't imagine that being much different than LA. I am curious if they could even do anything since they don't have the correct state to which my license plate was issued. On the ticket it says: my license plate number + CA. When it should say: license plate number + TX.

it's got to have the right info to be enforceable

 

[IJ Reilly]

I hate to bring this up, but if they wrote the wrong state on your ticket, how the heck are they going to find you if you don't pay?

 

[poppe]

It varies from state to state, and sometimes it can even vary at the county or town level. Best to find out your state or local law first. Do this as quickly as possible, as there is always a time limit on when you may appeal a parking ticket. Yours sounds like a valid appeal, as the state was recorded wrong. Dont' know if that will help or not, but it might be worth a shot of you have the time to do this. Bear with me,,,,

In Massachusetts, you have the right to appeal a parking ticket within ten business days from the date the ticket was issued. You then must appeal it to a "parking official". (Man, I love that one!) This person will let it stand or dismiss it. I have heard of people getting them dismissed in Boston, a city notorious for Parking tickets. They usually get dismissed because the license plate was recorded improperly, or the time was wrong.

The answer to your question is yes, I did successfully appeal a parking ticket on one occasion. It was issued in Belmont, a town that has no meters, but does have parking coupon machines at the entrances to its municipal lots. You must park, trudge over to the machine, buy a coupon (fifty cents for an hour) and place it on your dash, facing up. I got in line at the coupon machine behind an elderly gent who could not quite understand the machine. He got it, eventually. I returned to my car, coupon in hand, to find a parking officer (100, perhaps 200 years old, I'm not really sure) writing me a parking ticket. I explained the situation, but was gruffly told that once a ticket is written, that's it. No, the coupon I held, with the time stamp on it, would not do. Thus, I appealed it, using the time-stamped and dated coupon as my "evidence". I had actually bought the coupon two minutes before the time indicated on the ticket.

The Belmont parking official, (a hard-core civil service type all the way) Looked at both items and said "Ok, dismissed". That was it, done in less than a minute. A small victory? No, but it made me feel a little better.

So yes, I'd find out how to go about appealing it your location.

Oh man that is crazy!

it's got to have the right info to be enforceable

haha you'd think

I hate to bring this up, but if they wrote the wrong state on your ticket, how the heck are they going to find you if you don't pay?

See that's what I keep asking myself. If it doesn't have the right information could they even find me?

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So now can you all help me in exactly what I should say in the letter. I am so bad at writing something that sounds intelligent. If I write it myself I'll end up offending the reader and they'll get no where.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

depending on where it is, you could get away with never paying. Also with the wrong plate info on the ticket they can not trace it to your car because they will be looking in another state. My vote is do not bother paying it since they do not have the correct license plate.

Also depending on the local area it you could also get away never paying. For example in Houston it take 4 parking tickets before they will do anything, so as long as you are under that number you are fine. Hell at my college I have an unpaid parking ticket it from last year. Now I got the ticket it on my brother car which was not in the school data base so it not link to any student. Yeah I never paid that parking ticket and they did mail a letter to my parents but I told them just not to pay attention because the worse the school can do is deny a parking permit to that car until it is paid and they are not going to do anything until it gets 10 tickets on it. Considering the car was totals a few months later and my brother no longer attends my college it is never going to get paid.

Sum it up. Just do not bother with it and never pay it. The city has the wrong plate infomation which means they do not even know it was your car that got the ticket.

 

[FrankBlack]

Oh man that is crazy!

See that's what I keep asking myself. If it doesn't have the right information could they even find me?

Anything on the back of the parking ticket regarding how to appeal? In MA, Parking citiations have a checkbox on the back, indicating that you are exercising your right to appeal. Mail it, then you'll be "notified of a time and place to appear". This means the city or town hall where the ticket was issued. Almost always, the parking department is in the basement. Always dimly lit, with one or two flickering fluorescent tubes,,,, and what is that spooky tapping sound, and where is it coming from?

Don't know what the law is where you are, but in MA, unpaid parking tickets could mean that when your license or registration comes up for renewal, they won't renew them. You must settle all outstanding parking tickets before the RMV will renew your license and registration. Parking tickets are big business in this state, and are an enormous revenue stream for Boston and cambridge. Like I mentioned above, Boston is notorious for parking tickets. Some say they pursue parking ticket scofflaws with more intensity than they persue hard criminals. So yeah, I'd say they can probably find you.

 

[emw]

See that's what I keep asking myself. If it doesn't have the right information could they even find me?

On the ticket, does it also include any of your other information (VIN, address, any of that)? If the only way they can find you is through that license plate, then there's no way for them to locate you and enforce it.

Or, for that matter, probably no way they'd invest the effort to find you if it was wrong.

Writing a letter gives them the means to locate you if they don't already have it.

 

[dcv]

it says under time that it was written at 0451. Now I'm assuming that 0451 means 4:51, and since I picked the ticket up off my car at 11:30 a.m. it must mean 4:51 a.m, which means the ticket was given to me at a time when I am allowed to park there; there is a sign that displays no parking except 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Could the '4' perhaps be a poorly written/printed '9'?

Yes you were allowed to park there at 04:51, but not after 8am and you say that you didn't pick the ticket up off your car until 11:30... Not sure you've really got much of a case.

 

[Sun Baked]

If this had happened in Arizona, you would definitely want to pay the parking ticket -- since they yank the license of the vehicle owner if you don't pay.

Just makes traffic stops a little more interesting in the future when you are found to be driving on a suspended license.

Don't know what California is doing to make sure they do collect the parking ticket revenue.

 

[IJ Reilly]

By which, I presume you mean "registration."

I dimly recall that California had set up a statewide clearing house for parking tickets, to capture scofflaws who rack up a bunch of them without paying by hitting them on the annual registration. But if your car isn't registered in California, then I don't see how they'd ever catch up with you. Not that I'm suggesting anybody bank on it.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

By which, I presume you mean "registration."

I dimly recall that California had set up a statewide clearing house for parking tickets, to capture scofflaws who rack up a bunch of them without paying by hitting them on the annual registration. But if your car isn't registered in California, then I don't see how they'd ever catch up with you. Not that I'm suggesting anybody bank on it.

see I would just bank on the fact that the plate is complete wrong. Why pay it because when they go try to look up the unpaid ticket, it not going to come up with your name and the poor person in CA that on the off chance does have that plate number and the same make and color, there is not much the city can do about it and honestly I really do not think they would both trying to get the small amount from some one that far away.
So my vote again is just do not do anything about it pay no attention to it.

 

[poppe]

On the bottom of the ticket it just says to request a hearing call #. When I called that number it said send a letter to such and such to Appeal.

As for my License/VIN it says: J96 XCL - 7347, CA. I don't have a clue what the last 4 digits are. My correct license is J96 XCL TX. I have not registered my car in California yet.

That is all it really says. On the back it does say that they will hold registration if I register my car here, but I don't know if I plan to because that will raise my Insurance 800 a year. Since I am just a college student I figured I could stay on my parents insurance and just drive back every year to register it.

Could the '4' perhaps be a poorly written/printed '9'?

Yes you were allowed to park there at 04:51, but not after 8am and you say that you didn't pick the ticket up off your car until 11:30... Not sure you've really got much of a case.

No it definitely says 4.
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Hmm what to do what to do. I feel bad just not doing anything and hoping all is clear, but I don't want to get screwed over because I appeal it...