I was at an event the other day in west hollywood waiting for a friend to show up. I was parked near a meter because the sign said "2 hour parking from 8-10pm/4 hour parking from 10-2am" and it being 9:45, I figured I would wait until 10 incase the meter wouldn't allow me to put in money to last until 2am. My friend called me to ask where to find the spot so I was giving him directions and as I got off the phone, the parking attendant had JUST finished writing me a ticket and I got out of the car to argue why he didn't see me inside and if I could pay it since he was standing there. He used one of those PDAs which he said already was reported back to the ticket office saying he couldn't "erase" it. Is there anything I can do to get out of this or get the fine reduced? I'd rather spend that $50 on some records or CDs but maybe you guys know of something I can do to get out of this?

I've heard of that crap happening to people when they're sitting in the car. Complete nonsense. I don't have any experience with it, but good luck to you. Parking in West Hollywood is such a tremendous pain in the ass that I normally just use garages there. :/

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Originally posted by Sushipunk At least last time you Brits got pissed off, we got punk music out of it. This time, it'll probably just end up being embers breaks

In another city, I got a ticket where the law said you can't park on the street from 2am to 5am and I dropped someone off at their house, got back at 2:02 only to find the guy writing me a ticket and I told him if it was such a big deal, I would leave (which I already was) but he claimed he couldn't rip the ticket up since "it was already in a log book and my supervisor would get mad" but in west hollywood, the guy had a PDA which I didn't know the parking attendants now have which made it reasonable that he couldn't erase it for me but its still bullshit that he snuck and claimed he didn't see me in the front seat until I got out of the car to confront him.

Just go to the judge and explain. It's a pain in the ass but I've had many friends get out of stupid parking tickets like this by just meeting with the judge dressed well and explaining stuff. Just act professional, and not bitter. No guarantee it will work, but it's your best chance.

you cant see a judge for parking tickets? you have to go through one of those legal assistant whatevers

Wow, parking shit is getting like London.

The "it's already in the system" line is utter bullshit.

They pull the same crap in London all the time. Once I was parked in a small street right in central london and the road had just been resurfaced but they had missed a 14 foot of Yellow lines (that prohibit parking there). So see an attendant while I'm parking and even ask him "if there's no yellow line, I can park right, that's the law?". He says "yes, no line, no parking restrictions". So I park there, and when I come back there's a £80 ($130) parking ticket on the car. I run out, find a parking attendant and start giving him shit. He says he didn't write it, but can figure out whêre they guy who did is. He radios him, and he's close so we go find him.

Bring him back to the car, and he's trying to squirm now, as I point out he's fucked up. Then the epic line "it's already in the system anbd there's no way to cancel it without going to court to contest it etc". A lorry driver parks up, see's what's going on and starts giving the guy shit too. Then two guys come out of the pub across the road and start quoting parking law at the parking attendant. Next thing you know, he's called for backup in the form of his supervisor, and within 1 minute my ticket no longer exists.

I also know it's bullshit about the PDA thing, as I once started to get a ticket in the time it took me to walk from the car, all of 20 feet to the pay and display machine - before I even got my change out, I look back and one of the fucking vultures had pounced on the car. Told him to fuck off (and had winesses near by who said they seen my just pull up) and he magically cancelled the ticket that was already in the PDA.

Fuck, london is so bad for parking I pray it never gets like that over here.

Bottom line is, they can cancel the ticket if they want to - the reason the do this shit is that cali and the local cities are broke so there's pressure to bring in revenue.

DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOUR CITY! contest anything that is slightly shady: It will result in them not issuing parking tickets all over the place as it will cost them 10 times as much in man hours to process a complaint, and those parking attendants will get shit for dishing them out like that, so evenetually they'll ease up on frivilous tickets.

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Originally posted by jonmitz you cant see a judge for parking tickets? you have to go through one of those legal assistant whatevers

They are called judicators (I think) I had to deal with one in the past its not a formal judge just some board who reviews this but I wouldn't even know how to contest my ticket because I could write a letter telling them my word against theirs and it would fail immediately so I'm not sure how to go about getting out of this one...

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Originally posted by Fatujz They are called judicators (I think) I had to deal with one in the past its not a formal judge just some board who reviews this but I wouldn't even know how to contest my ticket because I could write a letter telling them my word against theirs and it would fail immediately so I'm not sure how to go about getting out of this one...

Exactly.

Parking tickets are such bullshit, I remember in LA having to pay ridiculous amounts for stupid bullshit. Just in San Jose I parked 3 inches over the marked line (on a parallel street spot). A complete accident and my fault (and in no way was blocking anyone or in the way). Cost of the ticket? $60. Ridiculous.

Make them $20 and it will still give the same point...

I contested a parking ticket before and won, not for this reason but it is worth a shot. On the back of the ticket it should have some directions on how to do that. I called in and told them I wanted to contest it, they told me to send in a letter explaining the situation and extended the time i had to pay it. Sent it in and won on two tickets. Just do that because it is worth a shot.

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Originally posted by hadi ****** I contested a parking ticket before and won, not for this reason but it is worth a shot. On the back of the ticket it should have some directions on how to do that. I called in and told them I wanted to contest it, they told me to send in a letter explaining the situation and extended the time i had to pay it. Sent it in and won on two tickets. Just do that because it is worth a shot.

What were the scenarios involving both tickets and what arguments/evidence did you provide?

Alright I am going to attempt to fight this since the due date is coming up soon. Does anyone have any good defense ideas I can use for this to get out of paying it?

Many thanks in advance!!

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Originally posted by Fatujz Alright I am going to attempt to fight this since the due date is coming up soon. Does anyone have any good defense ideas I can use for this to get out of paying it? Many thanks in advance!!

Uhhhh, honestly, I would think your story of what happened would be good enough - I could be naive, but the whole:

"I parked, got a phone call from my friend, answered it before getting out of the car to insert the money, then when I got off the phone 2 mins later, I already had a ticket"

defense should work for on a sensible man. I've found logical stories where the cop is at fault usually do work for the defendant.