Ask me anything about TORONTO Parking Tickets

[Fox1971]

What you received isn't a parking ticket. It's exactly what you called it, a courtesy charge. Green P lots that don't have attendants are patrolled by agents who give out these "courtesy charge" invoices to cars that don't have a valid pay & display receipt on the dash. The agents use a hand-held computer to record the info of any vehicles that haven't paid for parking. The first time you get caught they give out one of these courtesy charge invoices. They are never for more than the maximum fee during that time period in that lot, usually in the $5-7 range. If you get caught again in a Green P lot without paying, they can issue a real City of Toronto parking ticket or possibly even have the vehicle towed. I don't know how many chances they give before they do that but why take the risk over a few dollars. If you plan to park in any Green P lots in the future, just pay the courtesy fee and give yourself some peace of mind. It's cheaper than what might happen down the road.

[tkyoshi]

What happens if you are from out of town (i.e. > 100KM), are you able to set a court date up over the phone? Or is the only option is basically pay the ticket?

[m4gician]

Do STAY applications work on parking tickets? Will the standard 11b arguments work?

[bmgraphix]

What you received isn't a parking ticket. It's exactly what you called it, a courtesy charge. Green P lots that don't have attendants are patrolled by agents who give out these "courtesy charge" invoices to cars that don't have a valid pay & display receipt on the dash. The agents use a hand-held computer to record the info of any vehicles that haven't paid for parking. The first time you get caught they give out one of these courtesy charge invoices. They are never for more than the maximum fee during that time period in that lot, usually in the $5-7 range. If you get caught again in a Green P lot without paying, they can issue a real City of Toronto parking ticket or possibly even have the vehicle towed. I don't know how many chances they give before they do that but why take the risk over a few dollars. If you plan to park in any Green P lots in the future, just pay the courtesy fee and give yourself some peace of mind. It's cheaper than what might happen down the road.

+1

The courtesy charge is for first time offenders, its like a warning. You really have two options, dont pay it and pay it. If you pay it then its like they know you screwed up and next time it happens they will probably give you another courtesy charge. If you don't pay it then next time your getting the $30 city of toronto parking ticket

[Webhead]

Thanks bmgraphix for the great info.

My question: I was issued a Toronto parking ticket, $30, in 2005( yes, year 2005). I checked the box for a court date.
To this day, I have yet to receive a letter for my court date.
Do I assume the ticket has been cancelled?
4 years for a court date seems a long time for them to schedule one.

[nurddin]

I got a 105$ parking ticket and car was towed (costed me 130$ for that). All this was in the woodbine beach parking lot area.

Question:
- Do the Towing people charge for storage time (is it per hour or should be by min or something). i was charge 100$ for towing and 24$ for storage. 12$ per hour. i was was there before 1.5 hrs

-tips to fight 105$ ticket. (will the disclosure step work in this.. ?

thanks
NI

[Albin]

I got a ticket 5 years ago for standing in a no standing zone, the sign was confusing but that's a different story. I then took the ticket off my windshield and started walking away with it. 15 minutes later I came back and I get another one, I yelled over to the ticket guy and told him he gave me 2 tickets and he told me too bad.

I then took my tickets to get a court date the lady said she'll cancel 1 if I pay for the other one but i opted to fight it but was never sent a notice. I've renewed my license, my sticker and no collection agencies have called me.

What do you think happened?

[Fox1971]

I got a ticket 5 years ago for standing in a no standing zone, the sign was confusing but that's a different story. I then took the ticket off my windshield and started walking away with it. 15 minutes later I came back and I get another one, I yelled over to the ticket guy and told him he gave me 2 tickets and he told me too bad.

I then took my tickets to get a court date the lady said she'll cancel 1 if I pay for the other one but i opted to fight it but was never sent a notice. I've renewed my license, my sticker and no collection agencies have called me.

What do you think happened?

Five years ago Toronto Parking Enforcement was still issuing hand written parking tickets. The officer copies of your tickets probably got lost and weren't entered into the system. That won't happen these days because TPE is using hand-held computers to issue tickets now. It's all downloaded automatically instead of being manually typed into the system. Security guards and police constables still issue hand written tickets but that's only a fraction of the ones that get served.

[iluvmikeharris]

like i said in my post $15 are not worth it to go to court, you will never win a $15 ticket charge for 3 hour parking, my advice is put your car in your driveway, and not on the street, if there is no room on the driveway and there are alot of cars parking on the street talk to your Counsellor and get permit parking put out on the street. Just pay the ticket and move on. They either chalk the tires or record plates not sure as I don't know their procedures.

when you requested trial if you selected yes to challenging the officers evidence in court, then they should appear, if they do not appear the case is dropped, if you selected no then he will not appear and it will not be dropped cause you requested him not to be there

So do the officers always show up to court for $15 tickets??

[Albin]

Five years ago Toronto Parking Enforcement was still issuing hand written parking tickets. The officer copies of your tickets probably got lost and weren't entered into the system. That won't happen these days because TPE is using hand-held computers to issue tickets now. It's all downloaded automatically instead of being manually typed into the system. Security guards and police constables still issue hand written tickets but that's only a fraction of the ones that get served.

I got 2 tickets. Oh wells, I guess I'm one lucky son of a gun to have them lose 2 of the parking tickets.

[ENVER]

Greetings,

I missed my court date for $30 dollar ticket because I thought it was Sep 9th and it was the 8th. What happens if I don't pay it after missing the date in court? let's assume that they will jack up the price to $60 after ministry fees etc etc, and I still don't pay it. I doubt they will enforce it via a "Collective Agency" or will they?

[GangStarr]

Greetings,

I missed my court date for $30 dollar ticket because I thought it was Sep 9th and it was the 8th. What happens if I don't pay it after missing the date in court? let's assume that they will jack up the price to $60 after ministry fees etc etc, and I still don't pay it. I doubt they will enforce it via a "Collective Agency" or will they?

They may or may not send it to collection, the real issue is that they won't renew either the drivers license or plates of the plate holder.

[anton3773]

I got a $105 ticket for parking in a non designated area. I was going to V-fest, where the molson amphitheater is, I tried parking in the Molson lot, but they told me it was full and to keep on driving further east on lakeshore. So i did, I stumbled upon an area where i noticed about 40-50 cars are parked on the grass, and each had the proof of payment on the dash. I was a bit suspicious at first, there were no signs and then just decided to go with it. So i went to the nearest meter and paid $5, until 7am and put the ticket on my dash as well. The meter was for a little strip of space near the road. When I came back, most of the cars were gone but the one's that weren't had that same $105 as me given at approximately the same time.

Should I appeal for this? If so, should I ask for the officer to come? What kind of arguments should I use?

[akirika]

do towing companies set their own towing fees?

i was charged $200 for towing/impounding. the company's lot was just a few blocks away

[jkimbo]

In my opinion tickets OVER $60 should be sent to court, anything else is simply not worth it as the judge will doc maybe doc half of the ticket off and the cost of fighting the ticket is not worth it.

I just got my first Toronto parking ticket today for $60. I parked behind two other cars and just ahead of the opening to an alleyway. I even checked that there were no "no parking or no standing" signs but all I saw was the "no entry" red circle in front of the alleyway. I came out 20 minutes later and I had a $60 ticket. I had to get the officer to show me the "no standing sign" that was bent backwards behind the "no entry sign" on the post. Clearly the signs were there but in the most obscure and awkward places that even after looking for signs I got a ticket. Do I plead guilty and try to get this reduced in court or just pay the $60 and save my time?

Thanks in advance for any advice.