What happens when a parking agent secretly issues you a parking ticket?

Question

This is a real pending case and I don't know how I should fight it...

I live in NYC. Last month I picked up my mother from an office building on Main Street in Flushing, Queens. It was on 12/19/08, during that first bad snow storm we got. I pulled up to a bus stopped where it was marked "No Standing", and she proceeded to get into my car (it took her a little longer than normal to get in as the sidewalk was very slippery). As she was getting in, we noticed a traffic patrol car pull up behind my car. I quickly pulled away and we said to ourselves, "Heww, that was a close one".

Fast forward a month, and the other day I received a notice in the mail saying that not only did I have a parking ticket from that date, but also a $10 late penalty. First, I had always thought that "No Standing" meant you can drop off and pick up. Second, I thought that a parking agent had to scan the VIN number on the registration sticker on the windshield of the car to issue a ticket.

It isn't right that parking agents can now simply issue a parking ticket to an unsuspecting driver, not give them the physical ticket, and simply wait for the department to send a late notice a month later as the only notification that they received a ticket in the first place.

Then again, I've lived in NYC for 23 years now and I'm not about to go into a court room and say, "this is not fair" as my only defense. I hope someone can give me some information or advice that will help me when I go in front of a judge over this.

Answer 1

The NYC traffic laws define standing as "The stopping of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers."



I would say that you were definitely there temporarily, and you were letting your mother get into the car - which would be allowed, according to my interpretation of the above definition. However, upon reading it again, I see that you were standing in a bus stop area, so that may have a different implication. Those zones are exclusively for the use of buses, so that might be why you got the ticket.



They do not need to scan the VIN to issue a ticket - they can find you through your license plate number.



I agree with you, though, that you should have gotten the ticket in the mail, and not simply a late notice after the fact.

Answer 2

No Standing means you cannot stop there. You drove off before the Parking Officer had the chance to issue the ticket. The no standing zone around the bus stop is to prevent vehicle from blocking access to the bus stop allowing the bus to get in and out without disrupting traffic flow. There are Passenger Zones for loading and unloading passengers.



You were in the wrong. Pay the ticket.

Answer 3

You were parked or standing where prohibited by signs (a bus stop). It does not matter if it "was only for a second", it wouldn't even matter if you knew the bus schedule by heart and knew for a fact that no bus would require that spot for the next hour.



That are was provided by the city for buses to get out of traffic for loading and unloading their passengers.



As to why the parking enforcement officer did not give you the ticket ... you admitted to driving away quickly as soon as you noticed the officer. By that time the officer had already entered your license plate into their computer and the ticket was printing. You weren't quite quick enough.



Try and fight it ... doubt you will win. I can think of no applicable defense.

Answer 4

The ticketing system in NYC is terrible. Just watch Parking Wars. Even better yet, get back at those bastards by pulling off a Jimmy Justice.



You can definitely fight the late penalty since you just got it by mail. I don't know about the ticket itself. It "should" be physically given but those damn people don't give a **** anymore. NYC is hard. In LA we don't have that problem.

Answer 5

You broke the law and you are paying for it.