Category Archives: Horror Stories
Parking Ticket Horror Story Of The Week: Alzheimer’s & The City Sticker
A reader named Sean sent me this really depressing story that I wanted to share with you.
My parents still live in Chicago and my Dad has been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Well, last year he put a new city sticker on the outside (facing in) of my parent’s car windshield rather than the inside (facing out). It was an honest mistake and my elderly parents didn’t want to damage the sticker by taking it off. They figured that they paid the cost of the sticker and my mom sparingly drives their garage kept car.
Of course, only my Mom drives due to my Dad’s disease.
Sure enough, the one day my brother borrows the car to visit a friend downtown for less than hour, he comes out to find a nice $100 ticket slapped on the car for an improperly displayed city sticker.
Needless to to say, that was a bitter pill to swallow. My Mom and brother, motivated now more than ever after this incident, gathered proof of my Dad’s Alzheimer’s (medical prescriptions) and asked their local alderman to mail a letter of contest with proof.
A week later my Mom gets a denial letter.
Unbelievable. You can’t win for losing.
Technically, the ticket was valid in this case. Technically.
But where the hell is the humanity and understanding in this particular situation?!?
Based on the circumstances and proof, couldn’t the hearing officer have looked the other way on this one? Couldn’t the hearing officer have just dismissed it, then warn or encourage Sean’s mom and family to fix the situation at the City Clerk’s office?
The sticker is on the car. The sticker has obviously been paid for. The sticker is being displayed, albeit incorrectly by the letter of the law, but displayed all the same.
While it would not necessarily have been legally correct to dismiss the ticket, it would have been the right thing to do in this case.
An elderly parent facing this terrible disease is already difficult enough. But to have to be reminded of it in such an insulting way seems piling on to my mind. I don’t know Sean’s parent’s financial situation, but most retired people are on a fixed income. So $100 may be a lot for them.
Is ripping that $100 out of the hands of an elderly man fighting Alzheimer’s disease what our city has been reduced to? Revenue at any costs?
GEEK TICKET TIP: If you have a problem like this with your city sticker, you can get a replacement sticker for a nominal fee. You will need to surrender your original sticker (no matter the condition after you peel it off the windshield) and provide a receipt of your original purchase. When you peel off the sticker, try your best to keep the sticker’s number as legible as possible.
For more info, check out the City Clerk’s website on city stickers.
Street Beat: Ticketmaster’s Triumphant Return!
GEEK EDITOR’S NOTE: Our friend Ticketmaster is a Parking Enforcement Aide (PEA) for the city of Chicago Dept. of Revenue.
Recently, because the Geek has been so busy (with my real life alter ego) and distracted with all the news surrounding the parking meter lease deal, Ticketmaster’s usually regular column has been getting preempted.
My sincere apologies to readers and especially to Ticketmaster, who has been a great contributor to our goofy website.
Ticketmaster has been pounding the pavement of the streets of Chicago, and issuing those darn bright orange violations for many years. Ticketmaster very graciously, answers questions from readers and share their knowledge and experience within the parking enforcement system to give our readers insight and information to hopefully avoid tickets altogether.
Dear Ticketmaster,
Are parking ticket books carbon copy, with more than one copy one for the car and one for office records
Please let me know as soon as you can.
Thank you and stay safe out there.
Max
Hello Max,
The actual ticket book contains the copies per ticket. The Top Sheet “hard sheet” goes to the Department of Revenue, The 2nd sheet “Onion Skin” the PEA holds onto, and the third sheet “hard copy” the citizen gets.
Kind Regards
Ticketmaster
P.S. Why do you need to know right away?
Dear Mr. Ticketmaster,
What happens when a street sign gets covered up with snow like the photo I’m sending? I think it’s for residential parking.
But what happens if someone parks on the street and can’t read the sign or doesn’t see the sign because of all the snow? Do the PEA people ticket or not ticket? Is there any discretion there? What do you think?
Jeff
Hello Jeff,
We see a lot of signs like that this time of year, and that is when discretion will definitely play a role. There are some aggressive PEA’s who will ticket the vehicles anyways and there are some who won’t. If it was me, that would depend on the area I am in and if there are other signs that are clearly visible on the block.
Kind Regards
Ticketmaster
Dear Ticketmaster,
I am a pizza delivery driver on the north side and wanted to know if you had any advice for me to avoid tickets.
The problem is, we often have to park illegally for a few moments just to run a pizza into a house or apartment. Sometimes we have to double-park with our flasher on, or pull into a hydrant space or park close to a stop sign. I have a hand written sign on pizza cardboard in my back window.
I haven’t received a ticket yet. Do cops or the parking ticket aides know to cut guys like me a break? Is there any pizza delivery laws? I’m just trying to do my job and make a few bucks on tips.
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Damien
Damien,
I must be the bearer of bad news. There are no special laws on the books for pizza delivery drivers, or any other delivery vehicle as well. FIRST OF ALL: REPEAT AFTER ME. “I WILL NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE PARK ON A FIRE HYDRANT!!!”. There are no breaks on that violation (flashers or otherwise).
However, you can lower your risk for being ticketed: The sign in your window does help, especially with the flashers. If by some small chance you do see somebody on the block enforcing, let them know that you are making a delivery. Never assume that we see you unloading or delivering a pizza. Be polite, acknowledge that you see us and ask if it is OK to park there for a couple of minutes and 99.9% of the time, you will be extended a courtesy.
There is one BIG caveat to that. We always do not know whether or not someone else is patrolling the area and if they do come up on the scene, they may not know that you were given a break and may issue you a ticket. So when you say a couple of minutes, better keep track of that time because we do move fast.
As far as our training goes, if the vehicle is parked illegally, we can ticket it and sleep with a clear conscience. Now this is where the 2nd part comes in, our discretion and if there is any Special Attentions.
NOTE: A Special Attention is a request that comes from an alderman’s office. Usually is a result of too many complaints on a particular block. That area is made a priority and we have to report back our results
If a Special Attention was put on an area, most likely, no breaks would be given. Now with our discretion, every PEA is different. Some are easy going, and there are others that will issue tickets like they are giving away candy canes. Out in the neighborhoods, PEAs are usually easy going and won’t bother a legitimate delivery driver (we know that they are usually gone in 5 minutes or less).
Downtown, that’s another story. Parking spaces are at a premium and we need to share, there is no such thing as a couple of minutes delivery, but it is also harder to get a ticket downtown (so many people downtown are writing tickets) so there is almost no flexibility given. I know it’s a bummer, but what can we do?
STORY FROM THE FRONT LINE:
Since we are talking about delivery vehicles, thought you would love this. It was just after 911 and the city’s tow division was on a warpath for towing vehicles. This FedEx truck was double parked on a street making a quick delivery, the PEA was issuing a ticket for the double park (the street was narrow and the double park was messing up traffic) but before the ticket was even finished printing, a city tow truck had hooked up the vehicle, took the ticket from the PEA and rode off into the sunset. From what I understand, that PEA hauled their backside out of the area before the FedEx driver came back out. Guess somebody was not going to get their package delivered next day.
This also didn’t just happen to FedEx. In fact, one company’s vehicles were being towed so often, that they hired “security guards” to sit in the vehicle so it would not be towed. They would gladly accept the $50.00 ticket as long as they weren’t going to be towed.
Kind Regards
Ticketmaster
As usual, more great info from Ticketmaster.
If you have a question for Ticketmaster, please send your questions to either:
askthepea@theexpiredmeter.com or ticketmaster@theexpiredmeter.com
Horror Story Of The Week: Booted In The Butt
A reader sent this tasty morsel to us a few days ago. OUCH is right.
Some poor schmuck walked out of of Adm Hearings just now to find a boot on his car. Right in front of the front door at the 1st meter to the right. He looked shocked. Looked at the ticket, the boot, got in the booted car, got out, and finally walked back in. OUCH! At least he doesn’t have to figure out how to drive to the facility to contest the boot!
Torrent Of Downtown Motorcycle/Scooter Ticketing
GEEK EDITOR’S NOTE: My new friend MZ brought this situation to our attention. We appreciate ANY contributions of citizen journalism to The Expired Meter. Thanks MZ! GREAT job!
I thought I’d share this outrage captured on my camera phone (sorry about the quality). It seems that many people who ride a motorcycle or scooter & park downtown on the street have been parking on Franklin between Monroe and Adams (northernmost 1/2 block), on the west side of the street.
It’s become the communal place to park such vehicles. Apparently, the sidewalk was replaced a while back and nobody put up meters or signs.
Unfortunately, on 9/10, some holeass decided to ticket almost EVERY motorcycle & scooter (Photo #1) for no parking all day (Photo #2).
Talk about some serious $$$ for the city–you can easily fit 8 bikes in the space 1 car occupies!
The problem that I have is with Photo #2–a sign that was posted 1/2 block away, behind 2 driveways, a fire hydrant, and an alley… Apparently it means something different in the Loop than in most other parts of the city.
On first glance, most people would assume “no parking, no stopping, no standing 7-9am and 4-6pm Mondays-Fridays”. However, PEAs who write tickets in the Loop (and only in the Loop) take it to mean “no parking ANY TIME ANY DAY; no stopping & no standing 7-9am and 4-6pm Mondays-Fridays”–unless there’s a meter–then the sign means “no parking, no stopping, no standing 7-9am and 4-6pm Mondays-Fridays”.
Now, find the same sign in another part of the city and it means how it reads–no restrictions unless it’s 7-9am or 4-6pm Mondays-Fridays. Similar signs are posted on LaSalle St. between Chicago & North with no meters–yet nobody gets ticketed outside the restricted time.
It would be cool if the affected parties banded together and filed a class-action lawsuit against the city over the intentionally confusing signage. But alas, nobody fights for their rights in Illinois.
On a final note, the one (smart) guy who took his plate off his scooter didn’t have a ticket! Hmmmmmmmmmm…
–MZ
MZ previously contributed a guest commentary entitled “A Constitutional Amendment On Red Light Cameras?”
Tow Truck Uprising Sunday Morning In Pilsen
Most people spend their Sunday morning reading the newspaper over a cup of coffee, or attending church, having brunch or spending some quality time with their family.
This past Sunday, a group of people in the Pilsen neighborhood, spent their morning fighting a pack of tow trucks that had been dispatched to tow their cars and ruin their weekend.
According to Antar, a resident on that block, No Parking signs were posted Saturday, on one side of the 2200 W. block of 18th Place to insure the block was clear for an event at St. Ann’s Church the next day.
Antar explained he had moved his vehicle to the opposite side of the street, where there weren’t any signs, so he would not have to worry about moving his car in the morning, when the temporary parking ban went into effect at 8 AM Sunday.
But instead of waking to the smell of coffee and the sounds of chirping of birds, Antar woke to the screaming and yelling of his neighbors and the beautiful sound of the winching of cars onto flatbed tow trucks.
People in the street were shouting to their neighbors that tow trucks were towing ALL vehicles off the street despite the lack of proper signage.
“I raced to my keys trying to save my vehicle and looked at the time and it was only 7:59am–no joke,” explained Antar. “There was five to six E&R tow trucks racing in our block that is a cul-de-sac, blocking the entrance and hauling two cars at a time in flat beds. Six cars were taken and as the residents came out, one young man jumped on the flat bed demanding his car.”
Antar says that six cars were spirited away to the autopound initially, and then another batch of cars were being loaded up as angry neighbors started confronting the tow truck drivers and city employees. One young man jumped into his car after it had been loaded onto the flatbed tow truck.
District 012 police were called to the scene to calm the situation as tempers were flaring between the vehicle owners and city employees.
Antar explains the police actually sided with the residents and instructed the Streets and Sanitation employees and Traffic Management Authority tow truck drivers to release the cars on the tow trucks that were already loaded or still in the process of being loaded. St. Ann’s Church personnel also stepped in and asked that the neighbors car not be towed.
Antar says he has it on good authority that word has come down that Streets and Sanitation employees needed to start producing revenue or face possible layoffs when Daley finally starts axing jobs to cut costs for his $450 million budget deficit.
This can be the only logical explanation, as what else would explain this overly aggressive towing? This is a church block party. It’s not rush hour parking. Better judgment would be to relocate the cars around the corner, NOT ticket the vehicle then tow it to the autopound which costs the driver another $115 or so. This type of over the tow truck revenue generation leaves a very bad taste in the mouths of citizens.
Antar wanted me to make sure to thank the District 012 officers who showed up for making sure Streets & San didn’t did a total screw job on the neigborhood.
Antar even passed on a tip from one of the police officers on the scene Sunday.
“If you come out while they are towing your car, just sit in it and they cannot, by law
tow it away,” he said.
I have to agree with Antar–kudos to the District 012 police.
Ask The Parking Ticket Geek – 7/11/08
Dear Parking Ticket Geek,
I recently found a parking space that was on a curb underneath the el near my home. The curb was not yellow…and other cars were parked on both sides of me without tickets. I live in Cubs territory so I know how strict the cops can be and the only no parking sign was one of those one day paper signs that was outdated by a week.
I assumed that if there there was a no parking sign for June 14th that it was probably a spot the rest of the time and went ahead and parked my car. Also note that I have been parked in this very same spot for numerous days without a problem in the past.
Anyway, the car was parked there for a total of 3 days. I walk outside on Tuesday night and see my car being towed away. The tow truck guys told me it was because the alarm was going off because of the el and the neighbors called the police because of the noise.
I feel bad about the noise but not $460 bad. After getting to the impound at 11:00 pm waiting 2 hours and being charged an extra $10 since they were in a shift change and unable to clear this up before midnight…I had a total of 2 tickets and one nasty letter from a neighbor. The tickets claimed that I was blocking an alley (nothing about noise)…there is nothing to block and I was definitely still on the street (it is at the end of a court next to a park).
I am wondering if I should fight this with a letter (with a proof-read from my lawyer sister) or would I have better luck contesting in person? The tickets were given last Monday and Tuesday and I was towed by Tuesday night. Don’t they usually give you the boot or something before you are towed? Could the neighbors seeing the 2 tickets have called and requested my car to be towed…? Is there anyway, I would ever get reimbursed for the towing costs?
Anyway, I was curious as to what your thoughts would be regarding my incident. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Emily
Dear Emily,
YIKES! What a crappy story.
The good news is, in my opinion, you should be able to beat the two tickets AND the tow.
Your case is a bit complex and there are actually two steps to bring about a successful resolution.
First you need to have a hearing for the tow and hearings on the two tickets later.
GEEK NOTE: In most cases, you cannot have both the tow and the tickets heard at once. If somehow, your hearing request for the parking tickets were in the city’s system by the time you have your tow hearing, the administrative hearing officer can and will allow the tickets related to the tow, to be heard after the tow hearing. This is certainly convenient, especially if you beat the tow. But this scheduling serendipity rarely occurs because the tow hearings usually happen sooner than later.
TOW HEARING
As I was saying, first, you need to get back down to go back to the hell hole auto-pound ASAP to schedule a hearing. You only have 14 days from the date of the tow to request a hearing. Past the 14 days, you waive your right to contest the tow. The only upside with auto pounds is they’re open 24 hours a day, so you don’t have to miss any work to do this.
You will need to speak to a manager about scheduling a hearing for your tow. Do not wait in the normal line as the main line can take hours for you to get to the front. You’re not there to retrieve your vehicle, but schedule a hearing.
So go around to the side and politely explain you want to contest a tow. Make sure you bring all your documentation: paid tow receipt, drivers license, registration, etc. You’ll fill out some forms and then they will let you pick a date in the near future (a few days to a few weeks). Pick a date that gives you time to prepare a defense.
Please note that tow hearings are similar to parking ticket hearings but are scheduled very rigidly. They are scheduled by specific date AND time. Don’t miss your hearing or the tow will stand, as you have in essence given up your chance to be heard.
Your hearing will take place at The Central Hearing Facility located at 400 W. Superior.
On the date of your hearing, you’ll talk to an attorney from the city. He or she will speak to you before the hearing and show you all the “evidence” and documentation he has which should include the tickets, the tow receipts and possibly some written notes or testimony from the tow truck driver.
He or she, will talk to you off the record and may ask you if you still want to proceed after seeing the city’s evidence and documentation.
Sometimes, if they look over their evidence and talk to you a little bit, they may realize right then and there that it was a bad tow and tell you they will ask the hearing officer to have the tow dismissed and your money refunded.
But, in most cases, the attorney for the city will go forward with the hearing.
You will stand in front of the hearing officer at a podium on the left, the city attorney will stand at the podium to the right.
You will be sworn in and then the city (the attorney) will make their case.
After the city attorney is done, the hearing officer will ask for your testimony and to see your evidence.
Bring in your photographs of the spot. Also bring in photos of the area surrounding the spot from where you were towed. Try to demonstrate with your photos that you weren’t even near the alley (or the alley did not exist according to you) and that other vehicles surrounded you–so why were you towed and not them? Bring in photos of any street addresses you can find and/or a street sign, to establish that the photos you’ve brought in are where you were towed from.
In your testimony be resolute and forceful that you were not parked illegally and definitely not parked in the alley or blocking the alley or that no alley even existed.
If you have a friend who saw your car being towed, bring them along with their testimony. Witness testimony is very compelling to hearing officers and will greatly strengthen your case.
If I were you I wouldn’t even mention the car alarm. The tickets are for blocking an alley, NOT for the alarm and therefore are irrelevant to this case. Mentioning this fact will only confuse things and weaken your case.
I can’t see how you could lose this case if you bring in enough photographic evidence and testify strongly in your defense.
I have had vehicles towed three times and have beat the tow all every time, in similar situations like yours. It can be done.
REFUND
After you kick the city’s ass and the hearing officer rules in your favor. The attorney from the city will have you sign paperwork to have a refund check sent to you. It will take 6-8 weeks for this to happen.
Isn’t that just precious? The city needs their $160 immediately even when you were wrongly towed, but takes 6-8 weeks to return the money they stole from you. Nice!
TICKET HEARINGS
You will have to request hearings for the tickets.
And even though you beat the tow, you are still going to have these tickets heard at whatever later date the city gives you for the two tickets.
This hearing should be even easier. That’s because after beating the tow, you have documentation from the city stating that you beat the tow for these two tickets and that hearing officer didn’t think you were blocking the alley.
So make sure you bring all your victorious tow hearing documentation along with all your photographic evidence used in the tow hearing.
Go ahead and present the same testimony and photographic evidence, AND your tow hearing documentation proving you beat the tow and again, you should beat these two tickets as well.
If somehow, someway, you don’t win your tow hearing, go ahead and fight the tickets using the same testimony and evidence. If you lose the tow hearing due to a lack of evidence or proper testimony, do what you need to do to prove your case.
PLEASE get back to us after your tow hearing to tell us what happened. Good luck Emily. Now go down to your hearing and kick some ass!
Very truly yours,
The Parking Ticket Geek
If you have a question for The Parking Ticket Geek, please e-mail the Geek at: askthegeek@theexpiredmeter.com
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