You find an empty parking spot in a line of vehicles. You’re in an unfamiliar area, but there are no restriction parking signs. In fact, there are no signs at all. It’s a Sunday afternoon on a quiet Lake Country road with no sidewalk. You safely park, in line with the vehicles behind, close to the embankment. Your passenger side almost touches a shrub. You’re shocked to find a $50.00 parking ticket on your windshield when you return. It reads: “park to obstruct traffic on roadway.” You dispute the ticket.
The Adjudication Hearing is in Kelowna, miles from where you’d parked. The issuing bylaw officer isn’t even there. That day’s City Witness is a different officer, who neither issued the ticket nor saw your car. The Adjudicator tells you to state your case first. This is contrary to the Rules of Natural Justice, where the accused has the right to face their accuser. The Adjudicator points out that this is no Court of Law, but is her proceeding with her rules.
You provide photo evidence that your car was parked safely, in no way obstructing traffic. Since the issuing bylaw officer isn’t there, you’re denied the right to ask relevant questions. Instead, the City Witness, despite having witnessed nothing, states that she also would have issued the ticket, without explanation. This was her only evidence.
The Adjudicator rules against you, her decision is final and you can’t appeal. Just as troubling are her written Reasons, disturbingly flawed. She misquotes much of your evidence and inserts things you never said. She writes that you’re not an expert in traffic flow, so the allegation is deemed to have occurred. She also states it was “possible” that traffic could have been obstructed; therefore the ticket stands. This emphasizes the woman’s lack of training and understanding of the basics of law. To add insult, she slaps you with a $25 Dispute Fee, on top of the $50 fine.
So, is it worth disputing a parking ticket? Well, Adjudicators are hired by the province, where parking tickets are a huge source of revenue. Their salaries are paid out of that revenue, so it makes sense that they’d have a vested interest to keep that money flowing. Interestingly, we’ve been unable to find any statistics on success rates for parking ticket disputes. The process seems to be designed to discourage disputes. In our experience, disputing a parking ticket is a waste of time, effort and money.
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