I got a parking ticket a few weeks ago right outside my apartment in Chicago. The ticket said "Park/Stand Prohibited Anytime" but it was absolutely wrong. It is a spot that I have parked in probably 50 times and there is always someone parked there and I have never seen anyone issued a ticket. There is no sign prohibiting parking or any yellow curb or any other condition I could possibly understand that would call for this ticket. Understandably, I was incredibly frustrated with this. I've received two other tickets in this neighborhood for other incorrect issues, contested both by mail and won both. I sent a letter to contest this one as well and just looked up the status of my ticket and it says "Liable Determination Entered By Administrative Law Officer". I'm assuming this means they've decided I'm going to have to pay this ticket - I haven't gotten anything in the mail yet. My question is if anyone knows what I can do about this because I was not parked illegally at all. I included four pictures with my letter clearly showing the lack of signs prohibiting parking, but I suspect that my letter was rejected because of the attitude of the letter. It wasn't angry or ranting exactly - I stated my case clearly and succinctly - but I was a little sarcastic I suppose and I said I felt like the ticket was "either negligence or harassment on the part of the Ticket Issuing Agent" and they seemed to be "trying to fill their quota". In the future I will definitely follow your advice about the tone of the letter - I guess I felt like this was such an obvious wrong that I couldn't lose. Can they really reject my letter and make me pay this ticket even though there was no violation? Any advice?

So, there is a network of residential streets close to our hotel. From our experiences over the first few days there, I'd noticed that the policy seemed to be to place dual signs at the end of streets: one pointing towards the far end indicating the hours of parking, and one pointing to the corner with a crossed arrow, e.g. no parking. The only purpose of the latter sign is obviously to indicate where parking on the block is no longer permitted due to proximity to the corner. So, we parked about 5' back from a corner that only had a single sign indicating the hours of parking. Other cars (non rental) were parked in that spot every day, with no apparent summonsing. Is it possible to fight this?

Cheers
d

Hi hoping someone can help me out with this one.

I got a ticket today actually for an expired license plate sticker. The thing is we went to get the sticker this morning before i received the ticket. We were infomred that we need to to take the car or the emissions test first before we renew the sticker. What do i do. If i contest is there any chance of actually winning. I have to take my car to the emissionstest tomorrow morning should i contest by mail with the results of the emissions test and a letter. I got another ticket for rush hour this is completely my fault. Doubt i can contest it other then my boss had us in a meeting and they wouldnt let me leave for anything. But thats not even an issue. Im more worried about the sticker because i would no have received that ticket if they didn't need us to take the car for an emissions test. Please some one assist me in this thank you sooo much.

Sandy

I was in Stanton CA and received a ticket for street sweeping. There were no posted signs on the side of the street I was parked on indicating there were any such restrictions. Later I learned that on the other side of the street there was one sign saying that there was no parking 8-10am Wednesday for street sweeping (and then real little underneath it said "all streets in this tract") My contention was that I came in from the other direction, there were no signs on that side of the street for all three blocks of it so how could I have possibly known there was such a restriction. I took pictures and contested the violation on that premise. I was notified that they found me liable for the ticket because "Signs are posted in a conspicuous place at each entrance to an area of restricted parking for street sweeping." Even though I had pictures demonstrating that there weren't. I don't know what to do now. I know I am in the right. Is there an ordinance that states there must be a sign posted somewhere on the same side of the street that the violation is being given? What is your advice? Thank you.

On June 25, 2010, while visiting Chicago from Los Angeles and driving a Hertz rental car with Nevada tags, I received a ticket despite the fact that I had paid at the token box and was displaying my receipt in my window, as is is clearly shown in the photos on the City's web site. I suspect this happened because the enforcement "officer" thought I would never contest it. None of the other cars parked around me were ticketed. Is this common in Chicago?

Befere anything..
I really sorry for my english, but please I need your help to fund out a solution to my problem.

In january of this year I got a letter telling me that I had got a trafic ticket in november last year and I didn't pay it, then I when to the county office to explain that it was a mistake and they said that I have to go in from of the judge to discuss the case, in may I got another letter from a collection agency saing that I was declared guilty and The judge determinated that I have to pay $120. then I when again to the county office to check what I got that letter. They said that they sent me a citation to go to the court on march 26 and as I never went, the judge declarated me guilty and then they sent another letter letting me know about the judge desition, then I made a motion explaining to the judge why I'm not guilty and that I never received any letter and asking for another oportunity to go to court, Today I got a letter from them telling me that the judge denied my peticion and I have to pay the fine (they double the fine)
My defense....
from april 2009 to february 8th 2010 I was pregnant (a very high risk pregnant).
I have been tring to have a baby almost for 5 year and during that period I have lost 6 pregnancies, to be able to have this baby when I was 2 month pregnant (june) my doctor took me to the OR to close my utero with stitches to avoid the baby comes out, from that moment I have to do completed bed rest until the day before my baby was born.
My birthday is in octuber and every year you have to renew the vehicle registration, well, for my condition I didt'n do it.
My car was parked all the time in my house and nobody else was driven it, as I said I did not have the
vehicle registration, neither nor car insurance , my drivers license was expired too because I cut not get up of the bed to go to renew it.
I have a stamp letter from my doctor where he explain my condition at that time, The day I submit the motion to appear in court I attached it the the document.
Please give an idea about what I should do.
In USA has to be a law that give you the righ to defense your self, they can not just decare guilty to some body like that.

Thanks for reading my post.
Yaditza

I've got ticket for parking in disabled space couple blocks from my house/ But I have never parked there. There is no photo. How can I contest it???

I got a parking ticket on Saturday in city and province where I am not from. Me and some friends went to a park and when we got there there was a lot of no parking signs and a lot of people parked there. We asked (attempting a different language) if we could park there since the park wasn't even open and there was absolutely no parking elsewhere. We were told we were allowed but once we came back we had a ticket for $52. I also don't understand the ticket because it is in a different language. We talked to someone later who knew the park and they said normally we would have been fine to park there. But the ticket is from the city and not the park. I know I was in the wrong but we were confused and the ticket seems a little high. Is this worth fighting and if so how do I go about it?

Basing my letter roughly on Anonymous' posted above here's what I successfully used to get my ticket changed to a warning just today.

"To Whom It may Concern:

On Wednesday, April 28th, 2010, my vehicle, a 1991 Ford Taurus, Plate ------- was ticketed for an “Overtime Parked” (Ticket# ---------). However, when I parked my car there, the meter used to purchase a parking permit for the allotted time (roughly 2 hours before permits were no longer required - 10pm) was only accepting credit and/or debit cards, and no cash was being accepted at the meter. This occurred at the lot directly across from the ----; this is Lot 5 I believe. I soon found this to be true for ticketing machines campus-wide.

As I am not one to willfully break the law, I looked around the nearby vicinity for a meter that would accept paper bills and/or coins for me to purchase a permit, but to no avail. My reason for needing to park relatively close to the ---- was that of attendance at the ---- show that night, which started at 8pm. Due to having to spend time seeking out a lot wherein I could pay in cash, it soon became 8:20 and I needed to simply get to the show as I had previous engagements.

I pulled into the lot across from the ---- and parked in a metered space but left a note explaining the situation. The note read, “The meters only accept credit cards and I only carry cash. I cannot pay for a permit – please do not ticket me.” The ticketing officer would more than likely have a memory of this as it was prominently placed on my dashboard and clearly legible.

The parking officials assume that everyone carries credit cards; I personally do not even own one and have no want to; I still have a need to park when attending a show or campus activity. Is there some other manner in which I should have dealt with this issue at the time? I am composing a separate letter to the dean in regards to the lack of cash accepting permit machines on the University of California, --------- campus as I feel this is a form of discrimination.

I hope I have provided enough details for you to come to an informed conclusion. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. If necessary, please reach me either via the email address provided, or via the telephone number attached below.

Regards,

(full name)
(phone number)"

I removed the specifics, but I love you Robert Green, you're a great guy. We should hang out sometime :D

Oh and I'm not sure about actually writing that letter (to the dean) but....it does piss me off and I don't know how I'll pay in the future.

Saved me $30, try it people.

Hello there,
I just received 2 tickets for rush hour within 5mins of each other, does anyone know if that is legal? Not sure how to go about contesting.
Thanks for your help,
mk

My school's under construction so most of the student parking lot is sealed off. This causes a lot of students to park on nearby side streets. Parking is extremely hard to find. To make matters worse, my city decided to post no parking signs on zones that were previously open to parking. I arrived at school at 8:50 and parked in a no parking zone between 7 am - 9 am and got a parking citation. Do you think it's worth fighting? The person's home that I parked in front of saw me arrive very close to 9 am. So I have an eye witness.

Hi,
I got two speeding fines within 5 minutes of each other.
Do I have the right to be disputing the second fine?
If so, do you have any ideas about how I can go about writing it?
I've never written any kind of dispute letter before!
Thanks

I tried a new approach to fighting a parking ticket, and so far it has been successful with three different tickets. I accept the validity of the citation (so there is no controversy), I just change the terms of the citation to much more favorable terms. Because the city did not like the terms of my 'conditional acceptance of offer' they did not pursue collection and no fines showed up with the DMV. I posted examples of what I sent and my results at www.coreyeib.com/DMV/parking_citation.html

First off thanks for story and great read..

I thought tint was legal now?

So couple weeks ago I was pulled over for tint on windows. I Explained to the officer that I had 35% int all around. I was told this the legal limit. Officer claims to have no Idea what I was talking about and asked me to fight it. Very rude actually..

And last week I was given a parking ticket for the same!

I believe this law was passed oct 09 to allow as low as 35% all around. Anyone else get tickets for this fight them and win and can give me some pointers?

Hi, I recently got a ticket for running the red light. It was late at night at a deserted junction and I was pretty sure that it was still yellow when I cross. I was also not in a hurry and I was driving slowly. But I was pulled over by a police and issued a ticket. I have since scheduled a court hearing. Do you have any suggestion on what I should do or prepare to do in court? Thanks!

Hey, I was recently issued a parking ticket for parking in a handicap spot. The reason for me parking there was that I work for a hotel, which at the time was full and so was the parking lot. Since I work here I knew that there was absolutely no handicap guests staying at the hotel at the time and thought that it would be ok. for me to park there. I'm almost positive that someone staying at the hotel called the police on me out of spite. Can I dispute the ticket? Will it be worth my while? Thanks,

Columbia, MD

Yesterday I was parked in the loop and was towed. The ticket said I was within 15 feet of a fire hydrant. I believe I was probably close to that distance but with no yellow curb markings or signs posted, it is really a judgment call to determine a tow. I scheduled a hearing next week to fight the 160 ticket. What do you think are my chance of beating the ticket and tow?

Thanks,
under 8,000lbs

Robert,
Kudos to you on a well-written article--excellent advice!

Have a tough one for you. This past Sunday (3/14), I got a parking ticket (actually 2, because my wife parked her car behind me) on our High School Property (in MI). There is 1 sign that says "Buses Only" and another sign that says "No Parking." Our cars were clearly parked in front of a no parking sign, however being a Sunday with no buses in use, we had assumed it would be no problem. The bigger rub is we have lived for 9 years in our township and I have coached soccer and baseball and through the course of all of the practices and games at least 50-70% of parents parked in similar areas at various schools throughout our district as it was always in the evening or on weekends (no bus service) and no one ever received tickets. I've parked in the same area (along with others) at this HS with no cars getting ticketed for the past 2.5 months. The township police dept is actually only a block away from this HS and there are cruisers passing this HS driveway regularly. So 9 yrs go by with no tickets for me or my fellow parents and then all of sudden we get ticketed (by 2 separate officers--some 2 hrs apart)--makes me think that their monthly quotas were low (of course I would never say this at a hearing). As a matter of fact, I went back to take pictures 3 days later and surprise, surprise those "no pkg" spots were filled up with cars (as it is every school evening)--and no one had been ticketed.

Do I have any chance of contesting this on the front of "Buses Only" and there were no bus service that day or "Selective Enforcement" of the ordinance? I am a law-abiding citizen who has no previous traffic violations of any kind, I regularly pay my property taxes, am involved in the community (coaching baseball/soccer) and even most recently voted for a new millage to ensure that no one in our police or fire dept had to be laid off due to budget cuts (though my hearing would be in the District Court that is in our township).

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

I just received a letter stating I owe $100 for 2 parking violoations at my university. I don't believe I should have been issued either:
The first was caused by the ticket machine not functioning properly, and I was late for my class - therefore had no time to write a note or call the help line. I drove someone else to school that morning, so I have a witness. I was aware of this ticket, but I misplaced my ticket and had forgotten about it until recently, so didn't get a chance to dispute it at the time.
Following that ticket I never had a problem and paid every time. That was last semester, 2009.

This semester I do not park at the school, so I don't understand how getting a second ticket is possible. The second says the 'type' of violation is 'expired meter'. That doesn't even make sense since the university has machines that print tickets specific to each parking lot. Maybe there are meters I am unaware of? If so, I have never used them.That is irrelevant anyway since I don't park at the school anymore. Is is possible that the ticket was incorrectly issued, such as a typo in the licence plate number?

I parked my car befor sign "no parking 8 pm 6am" on parkin spot, a curb wasn't coloured(Yellow, Blue, red) My car was towed away and I payed it. I got also a ticket for wrong parking "prohibited zone"! Police officer told me that sign is for 100 feet before and 100 feet after this sign and it's a law of San Francisco. I'm still not sure that they towed my car legal becouse it's impossible to understand why the same sign on one street is for 100 feet and on other you can park your car before this sign. Befor this sign was red curb with notice "tow away" but i parked befor red curb... I'm from Europe and there signs have a power just after, but not before. Can it really be true that San Francisco has totally different traffic rules from other world? So if I see any sign I have to follow the prescription 100 feet before? I didn't found anything about 100 feet on signs or Traffic Control Device by that I parked.
Have I any chances to get my money back( I payed 415 $) and what I should do?

Thank you for any help!

On last Sunday 1/24/10 at 6:23pm, I was driving with my friend to her home. We were passing through the grocery store on her way home and realized she wanted to buy some stuff and might take couple of minutes. So I was looking for parking spot near by the store and found all parking spots are occupied through out the road. So I pull over to tow zone almost at the end of the road and let her go off the car. I was in the car, with my flash lights on and car engine running. I had my eyes on the road that I was not interfering anyone (bus stop) on the road. It was really busy traffic and suddenly in a minute I seen a cop car across me and cop turn on the flooded light (not the blue one) towards me. So I started to move my car slowly and took a right turn on the next street, then cop followed me for like 5 minutes (I passed three stop signs and cop still followed me, assuming they are running plate number search or whatever) but then at the third stop sign, I was taking left turn and cop car turn towards right but stopped right close to my car and stuck the violation ticket out of his window to my car and drove away. Then I started emergency light, got off the car and took the ticket off the car saying "parking violation in no parking or no standing zone".

I went back to pick up my friend and I observed there was no sign of "no standing zone"at the violation site according to ticket. The sign says "tow zone". And basically what I did is standing there for a minute. Can I contest this ticket and if yes what should I take photos off.

Using this page as a guide, I successfully contested a ticket. The letter I used and the situation is shown below. Thanks and major props to you, Robert Green.

"To Whom It may Concern:

On Wednesday, July 8th, 2009, my vehicle, a 1997 Toyota Camry, Plate ________ was ticketed for an “Expired Meter or Overstay” (Ticket# _______). However, when I parked my car there, the meter was out of order and I put in at least three quarters to make sure it wasn’t working, and it took the money but gave me no time credit.

As directed by the label on the meter, I reported that meter # _______ was not operating correctly at 4:12pm. I informed the woman on the phone that when I put in money, an “out of order” and battery logo flashed on the screen, and then disappeared, while not registering that it took any of my money. She gladly assisted me and informed me that there was a record of my call and that they would send someone out the fix the broken meter. She also stated that should I receive a parking ticket, I needed to simply contest it.

The photographic proof provided online (shown below) is somewhat unclear, as it shows only my license plate in the first photo. The second photo is a picture of the meter, but you are unable to read what the meter says on the screen. The third is a blank white photo.

I hope I have provided enough details for you to come to an informed conclusion. Thank you very much for your time and consideration."

I included all three photos that were supposedly "proof" in the letter as well.

Again, thanks for your help!

I went to LA to take care get some papers done at one of the consulate, it happened to be on a thursday which is the street sweeping day. I didn't notice the sign at the beginning of the street where I parked, since it is a metered parking and there is no notice or sign on the parking meters. Beside this, they put the wrong color for my vehicle on the ticket. Is this a good reason to contest this ticket? Please advise. Thanks.