At 4:15 PM -0500 2/15/00, Patrick Austin wrote:
While we're on the subject of tickets, I have a little problem with parking
tickets.
Parking tickets in Boston are $25 a pop, and where I go to school we have
these digital meters. Now, the meters have one flaw: they can be put out
of order by stuffing paper into them. EVERYONE does this, so all of the
meters are constantly broken. Parking is tight, so the second a spot opens
up, you have to take it. Now, they won't ticket you for parking at a
broken meter, but every day or so they come around and fix all the meters
(some poor bastard's full time job). After this, the meters are reset to
zero, and if the meter lady comes around she'll ticket you. WTF? How can
I avoid paying fines on this? I have FOUR TICKETS right now, each for $25!
IS there any legal reason for me to get out of this, or will I have to
appeal and hope the judge likes me and my so-called logic?
What's the time limit on the meter and how long were you
parked there? If the ticket was issued within the time limit after it
was fixed (ex: meter fixed at 1PM, ticket issued at 2PM, with a two
hour time limit) then you have a case, since, if the meter had been
operational, you would have fed it; tell the judge that. If, however,
you had expected to park at a broken meter indefinately, you're
probably screwed (ex: meter fixed at 1PM, ticket issued at 5PM, with
a two hour limit). IMHO, a fair way for the city to do it would be to
fix the meter, set it for it's maximum time, and then if you aren't
back before it runs out, you get a ticket. I think any judge _should_
buy it, assuming you can provide times of when you parked, when the
ticket was issued. . .
W. Lee Hendrick
[email protected]
http://soliton.ucsd.edu/~hendrick/
