A DRIVER was left furious after spending hours on the phone fighting a parking ticket. She had proof that it wasn’t hers.
The owner of a Toyota Prius Prime received a parking ticket in the mail even though state authorities knew she was 250 miles away.
two
“My license could be suspended,” Prius owner Jane Barr told Tampa Bay-based ABC affiliate WTS.
“I didn’t do anything! It’s not fair.”
In December 2023, Barr received a letter for an alleged parking violation in Miami Beach.
The city asked her to pay a $154 fine.
Read more about parking fines
But Barr said there were several problems with the fine.
“I wasn’t there,” she said.
“[I] It couldn’t be there; I haven’t been there in years. So that’s not right.”
Barr had proof that she was not in the Miami area. On the day of her departure, she made a doctor’s appointment in her hometown, Saint Petersburg.
She also saw several friends on the same day.
Additionally, a toll transponder registered her car as she entered a highway minutes before the ticket was issued. She was 250 miles away.
“I’m in St. Petersburg and I have some people who can say yes,” she told the station.
Ultimately, authorities attributed the parking ticket to a four-door Ford, not a Toyota.
Barr said he called, texted and even faxed parking association agents in hopes of paying the bills for eight months.
She sent her resignation with all the evidence that the car was unfairly fined.
How to Fight a Parking Ticket
You can avoid being fined by following all published laws and regulations, but sometimes mistakes are made
Like any form of citation, parking tickets can be avoided by reading and obeying posted signage. However, when visiting a new city, or state, or in a hurry, things can be missed and mistakes can be made.
Suddenly there’s a ticket you weren’t prepared to pay for. If the ticket comes as a surprise to you, there are some things you can do to help your case when appealing a parking ticket.
- Read the ticket carefully. Look for errors such as incorrect street names, license plate numbers, vehicle make and model, time and date, etc. Errors would render the ticket invalid.
- Take pictures. The vehicle in the space, lack of signage, or other vehicles that were not cited for performing the same parking service. If the ticket involves parking too close to something like a fire hydrant, a photo showing a reasonable distance would help your case. Make sure metadata with time and date is accessible. Signs that are obstructed by trees, or on crooked posts, or that are not “obvious” are also great things to photograph.
- Make sure the statute that was violated is listed on the ticket. If it is not listed, the ticket is not valid.
- Immediately follow the appeal instructions on the ticket. All legitimate tickets will have appeal instructions. Waiting until the last moment weakens your argument and can result in late fees.
- When in court, avoid these phrases as they reduce your credibility and weaken your argument:
- “I didn’t know the law.”
- “I was going to move my car.”
- “I can’t pay this ticket.”
- “I’ve been doing this for years.”
- “I checked with the parking officer, who said everything was fine.”
- Contact a lawyer. If you are facing obstacles and feel stuck, you may want to contact a traffic lawyer in your area. Many have free case consultations.
Source: Reader Summary
Barr said he had not heard from the agencies and thought the situation was behind him.
But recently she received a letter from a collection agency.
The agency asked her to pay more than $200.
After WFTS contacted parking authorities, Barr’s ticket was cancelled.
A representative from the Miami-Dade Parking Authority also confirmed that the collection agency would no longer contact Barr.
But the driver is still looking for answers about how she got the ticket.
“That’s all I’m asking,” she said.
“I’m not trying to get rid of something I did. I’m trying to solve a problem for something I didn’t do.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
