Help with parking tickets

[hsanchez]

I don't know who else to ask. There seem to be a great deal of educated people on this board and maybe someone can help me out.
I got a letter in the mail stating that I owe $250 in parking tickets that I never received. I know for sure that they have to be false, because one of the tickets said that I was missing a rear or front plate. And ever since I bought the car the both plates have been on it. The only thing is I have no way of proving that I never received any of the tickets.
Any suggestions?

 

[carshark]

Originally Posted by HSanchez
I don't know who else to ask. There seem to be a great deal of educated people on this board and maybe someone can help me out.
I got a letter in the mail stating that I owe $250 in parking tickets that I never received. I know for sure that they have to be false, because one of the tickets said that I was missing a rear or front plate. And ever since I bought the car the both plates have been on it. The only thing is I have no way of proving that I never received any of the tickets.
Any suggestions?

did you contact the police department? where is the return address to send the payment? tell them to furnish a copy of the tickets, who signed them, and when...

 

[snailheave]

go to court

 

[hsanchez]

I plan too. I called and they said I would have to speak to a hearing officer. I'm going to go on thursday, my day off. I checked my records (phone bills, bank account) and I was in that area but I never received the tickets. I had 3 people with me at the time. Could I use them as witnesses??

 

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by HSanchez
I don't know who else to ask. There seem to be a great deal of educated people on this board and maybe someone can help me out.
I got a letter in the mail stating that I owe $250 in parking tickets that I never received. I know for sure that they have to be false, because one of the tickets said that I was missing a rear or front plate. And ever since I bought the car the both plates have been on it. The only thing is I have no way of proving that I never received any of the tickets.
Any suggestions?
I see you live in Chicago....SOme larger municipalities use a thrid party to "process" parking tickets..outsourcing the operation.
They are usually paid by the numebr of tickets they process not what is ultimately collected. If they have your plate numebr or if you received just one parking ticket in the past, they often process these "bogus tickets" and get paid for doing it.
Usually. a phone call will take care of it. They simply remove it ..but they will claim it as one that is "processed". BIG SCAM and they get away with it. SOme folks will simply pay which is why the local governent will trun a blind eye.
If not outsourced...it is not beyond the local authorities to do the same thing.

 

[scubadoo]

To qualify my answer..I used to work for a large muncipalityin at a high level in finance...and I know all to well about this "scheme".

 

[scubadoo]

Parking ticket stories
Via Market Power, this one takes the cake.
CHICAGO - It sounds like the meter maid's version of a speed trap: A ticket for parking at a meter that was installed after you park your car.
But that's what happened in Chicago last week, where a handful of motorists returned to their vehicles and found parking meters - and tickets - that weren't there when they parked.
According to a spokeswoman for the city's revenue department it was all just an innocent mistake. The way Efrat Dallal explains it, the vehicles were parked on a stretch of roadway where the meters were temporarily removed during street construction. Then, she said, the meters were put back and the vehicles parked in front of them were ticketed.
But some motorists wondered if that was the case after at least one of the tickets was apparently postdated several hours after it was placed on a car.
That's a good story, but it's not the only good Chicago parking story. Unfortunately, Chicago sometimes misdirects their parking tickets. Lots of people who have never been to Chicago get them. Thing is, I've received a parking ticket for parking in a place where I had never parked. It wasn't from Chicago, it was from Iowa City. What made it easy to contest was that the vehicle description was all wrong. The person writing the ticket probably entered a character from the license plate incorrectly. I was told that it happens all the time. I would guess that is often the case in Chicago. I mean after all, when you write millions of tickets, there are going to be transcription errors and some poor guy in Vandalia is going to get a Chicago parking ticket.

 

[simm]

Originally Posted by HSanchez
The only thing is I have no way of proving that I never received any of the tickets.
Any suggestions?
Did they send the letter "certified?" We have a Judge here who is putting people in jail for not showing up for Jury Duty. They got out of it because they proved the court didnt send the letter certified.

 

[hsanchez]

Well I received the notice in the mail, but I never received the paper tickets on my car.

 

[jmick]

Can you prove you were somewhere else when the ticket was issued? I have heard of this happening to other people and it's a scam (city is always looking for ways to generate revenue).

 

[hsanchez]

The thing is I was in the location. I parked in the parking lot, not in a handicap space. I left my girlfiend in the car, with my bestfriends girlfriend. And me and my bestfriend went into the store to use the atm. When we came out there were no tickets and I'm sure my girlfriend would of seen a cop putting a parking ticket on my car. But no nothing.