Probably The Most Stupid Mistake I've Ever Made. Worth to Appeal?

bigeater on 07/07/2017 - 15:23
Last edited 07/07/2017 - 17:03 by 1 other user

I'll try to describe it as brief as possible.

Went to a shopping plaza with this 2P parking limit (no gate so you need to buy a ticket and put on display).

When I parked my car, the lady next to me came to ask if I want her parking ticket as she's leaving and there was about 1 hour left on her ticket. I was flattered about the kindness of the lady and gladly accept the free offer and put the ticket on display.

I've spent one hour in the plaza and realised that I prob gonna stay longer. Then I went to carpark to purchase a 2 hours ticket. OUT OF MY MIND I just displayed the ticket next to the previous one.

Half hour later when I finished shopping and went to my car only to find there was a white slip on my car window showing a FINE. Apparently I was fined because I parked my car over time limit. But the truth is that I only parked for 1.5 hours.

Is there a way to appeal? Well the ranger might have the photo-ed evidence that I had 2 parking tickets on display. But if I could find a CCTV footage to show that I was only in the plaza for under 2 hours, would it help?

I know it was a stupid mistake I've made. But please share some advice. thanks!

Automotive

Comments

  • OzzyOzbourne on 08/07/2017 - 11:01

    Yep guaranteed decent people get nailed for the tiniest thing in this country.

    But if you're stealing someone's fruit trees, apparently you're all good.

    Oh, maybe you could do that to pay for the fine!

  • [Deactivated] on 08/07/2017 - 11:08
    +1

    Get Bikies onto that generous little old lady. Tell them not to leave her house until she refunds you the fine plus Bikies fee.

  • Mikeyphoto48 on 08/07/2017 - 11:59

    Surely if the white slip they issued was placed on your car AFTER you placed the 2 hour ticket, they have no case at all?
    Presumably theirs and your ticket have been time stamped. And maybe the inspector only took notice of the ticket given to you by the kind lady. I'd fight the bastards no matter how long it took.,, treat it as entertainment. (Haha)

    • D C on 09/07/2017 - 21:45

      Presumably theirs and your ticket have been time stamped.

      They are, that the problem.

      OP has one ticket from 10:00-12:00, and another from 11:30-1:30. It's a 2 hour maximum limit, so at any point after 12:00 his time was up (even if he got there at 11:00 and left at 12:30).

      From the car park point of view he'd been parked for at least 2 hours when they fined him.

  • Cabrinha on 08/07/2017 - 12:13
    +1

    Do you have location services turned on on your mobile? You could perhaps pull the data from your google maps location history to show that you were only in the plaza for the said amount of time and use that as your evidence https://www.google.com.au/maps/timeline

  • Cwong14u on 08/07/2017 - 12:52
    +1

    Any CR available when paying off fines with my amex centurion?

  • Mumbles on 08/07/2017 - 16:58

    I'd consider the Pros and Cons involved with fighting the parking fine. You'd probably be better off paying the fine. If you are appealing the fine it will probably involve lots of time to write 3 or so letters going back and forth, waiting weeks at time for their responses. For such a common incident the council is likely to go to court. Then you have to factor in planning leave for the court appearance.

    Also the perspective is a little over blown. A parking fine is one of the LEAST stupid automotive mistakes. The decision to accept a free 1 hour parking ticket from a kind stranger is totally rational. Same with wanting to shop at the mall for more than an hour.

    More costlier examples of automotive mistakes:
    - leaving coins in the coin draw and returning to smashed car windows.
    - leaving spare car keys in the glove box and the car being stolen.
    - leaving your valuables in plain view and losing your brand new mobile phone + laptop + digital camera.
    - parking on a downhill or next to trolley return area then having to pay a smash repairer to remove trolley dents.
    - parking too close to a kiddie carrier (SUV, 4WD, van) and returning to door dents and scuffed up bonnet+boot from the parents resting their shopping on your car.

    Is a parking fine to your local council really the worst thing? Do you notice many stressed out selfish BMW + Mercedes owners illegally parking on city foot paths, no stopping zones, disabled parking, driveways?

    • bigeater on 08/07/2017 - 19:28

      The mistake I was referring to is displaying 2 tickets at same time so the ranger thought I parked over time limit. Most ppl would take off the first ticket if they have to extend their parking time.

  • hikaru78 on 08/07/2017 - 17:28

    Double post

  • hikaru78 on 08/07/2017 - 17:31

    You have a problem in this

    Say you got there at 9am
    The first ticket would say 8am till 10 am
    Second ticket will say from 10 till twelve

    The minute you tell them you go there at 9 means you parked illegaly for 1 hour as the 1st ticket is not valid for you.

    The second ticket cannot be valid for the hour before it was purchased.

    Net result fine

    You tell them you got there at 8 then you were in the same spot for 2 1/2 hours

    Net result fine

    If however you got there at 8 left and came back at 10 you may be ok.

    • bigeater on 08/07/2017 - 19:32

      In my situation, I'm not really sure about the validity of 1st ticket. Is it invalid if it's given by another person who spent the first hour? A bit confused here. If that's in the law I'll save my time to appeal.

      • D C on 09/07/2017 - 01:35
        +1

        Tickets are non-transferable so it isn't valid.

        As I said before, you're kinda outta luck no matter what you argue (except for being naive & stupid, that sometimes works.)

        Stating you did two trips, hence two tickets may work, may not. Don't forget CCTV can be used against you as well (despite the conspiracy theory posters thinking, they're not going to pull up CCTV for a parking fine.)

  • Randxyz123 on 08/07/2017 - 18:07

    Most stupid mistake ? Just pay it for god sakes. If that's the worst mistake you've made you can't be very old…

    • bigeater on 08/07/2017 - 19:34

      Well, after calming down a bit I think this isn't that bad but at the time I really wanted to hit a brick with my head for such a rookie mistake (displaying double tickets).

  • wau2 on 08/07/2017 - 19:08

    Can't you say you went out of the shopping centre, realised you forgot to buy milk so went back in?

  • dtc on 08/07/2017 - 20:48

    I suspect you might find it's as uncomplicated as the parking ranger not noticing there were two tickets.

  • hedonistic on 08/07/2017 - 21:02

    Have a read on the back of your parking ticket (not the infringment notice). Usually it says you have to display only 1 ticket clearly on the dash, so putting 2 is technically a violation and they can fine you for that as well. But I do agree it is UTTERLY stupid and I absolutely hate people who give out parking tickets, especially when it's something so very tiny like that. If that term isn't there in the T&Cs on the back, then yeah it's just a bit of a cvnt move because it's hard to fight even if you're not in the wrong.

    I would probably ask a lawyer for advice and proceed from there, there are free legal advice clinics in most places. And if you do some research there are lawyers who are relatively inexpensive, if they're nice they might just give you advice for free.

  • love2buy on 08/07/2017 - 21:27

    My guess is you are young person with the first ever fine in your life. I feel for you. Listen to everyone here.. Just move on. Not worth your trouble.

  • crentist on 08/07/2017 - 21:45

    how difficult would it be to simply say you were given a ticket in error, and you have your 2hr ticket to prove it. it will have timestamps to show it was purchased before you got the ticket, and was valid.

  • tehsnrub on 08/07/2017 - 23:22

    Long shot, check your Google timeline and see if you can prove you left

    https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

  • wannagrababargain on 08/07/2017 - 23:34
    +4

    I am amazed at the defeatist attitude of these responses! Giving up and paying is exactly what these scum of the earth barely any legal leg to stand on councils want you to do. They set the fine just enough so that it's not "worth your time" to chase it up, even the OP is now doubting himself (see below). Their next tactic if you write a letter will be to send you one or two standard reply letters hoping that will be enough to make you give up. You need a multi-pronged retaliation as suggested by paulojr. For a so called "bargain" hunting community a lot of people seem quite keen to give up their hard earned cash to a faceless bureaucracy merely because some low life minimum wager stuck a white sticker on their windscreen.

    I applaud paulojr for his level headedness and logical presentation analysis of the FACTS. The more people who stand up and send a message the less they will think they can get away with pulling this cr*p.

    Baysew on 07/07/2017 - 16:54 new
    How much was the fine?

    bigeater on 07/07/2017 - 19:45 new
    Not big less than 100

  • justinh93 on 09/07/2017 - 02:38
    -1

    I reckon explain to them what happened except substitute old lady with your sister or something. Nevertheless they usually have satellite/sensor technology to prove it or your car was chalked. I'm assuming they don't have either of those so I reckon you got a pretty good chance of getting out of this one.

  • punk000 on 09/07/2017 - 09:52

    Just write a nice email to the parking office explain the situation as you have explained here. You can substitute that somebody had left the ticket at the ticket machine if you wish. Hopefully the people on the parking infringement review office have "normal" common sense.

  • [Deactivated] on 09/07/2017 - 12:04
    +1

    If you only parked 1.5 hours, then you have not broken any rules.

    If you received a fine for parking over the time limit and it based solely on the time docket of your parking slips, then you still haven't parked there longer than 2 hours.

    Appeal the fine, state your case, and state you will not be paying the fine unless proof that you have parked there > 2 hours is given. You have gave sufficient reason that the fine is not valid, and in any case, the burden of proof is for the prosecuting team.

  • JoJoker on 09/07/2017 - 12:17

    Do you have timeline activated on GMaps? Send them a letter with your timeline attached?

  • grasstown on 09/07/2017 - 12:20

    I haven't read everyone here but as the comment above me.

    The parking limit is 2 h. You have only entered the car park once (if there is a once per day rule).

    You parked 1.5 h.

    You displayed a valid ticket at all times.

    The fine is not valid.

  • Plug on 09/07/2017 - 12:31

    Does the ticket clearly state it is not transferable? Alternatively is there signage in the car park stating this? If not you may have an argument.

  • Matslurpee on 09/07/2017 - 15:54

    Never accept someone else's ticket, always get your own.

    • D C on 09/07/2017 - 23:12

      No, use their ticket but get your shopping done quicker.

      OP was there for a least an hour, that's about 45 minutes too long for the average bloke.

  • PurchaseAnxiety on 09/07/2017 - 19:54
    +1

    I envy you if this is the worst and/or most expensive mistake of your life.

    I would simply write an email explaining your mistake. You tried to do the right thing by paying for the time you had already been there + the extra time. If you're lucky, they might give you a break. If not, just cop it and move on.

  • JimB on 09/07/2017 - 22:37

    I'd be pretty happy if this was the worst mistake I ever made :)

  • OzJD on 10/07/2017 - 04:07
    +2

    What I can tell you OP, which will oppose some of the previous thoughts…

    • Councils (and police) CAN patrol private car parks, basically the owner gives permission/pays a fee for this service. It's very common.

    • You can be fined for leaving and returning to a car spot in the same zone. 1P means one hour, even if you drive around the block.

    If what you've said is completely true, I would appeal immediately, and await the results. If that fails, I would opt for court attendance.

    Don't tell lies. Tell the truth (the whole truth and nothing but the truth).
    I'm not sure if the ticket is transferable (legally) but you were issued an infringement notice AFTER you legally purchased your ticket, so you're not in trouble for that.
    They've done the wrong thing and as you were not there for 2 hours, you know they have no evidence that your car was there longer than two hours.

    After you explain that you were given a ticket and still decided to buy your own, no self-respecting magistrate is going to give you an infringement. You'll likely be able to ask for costs for your trouble, and hopefully your local council will stop pulling this kind of crap on people (not actually making sure that someone was there for 2 hours)

    Good luck, and just remember that you did NOT get caught breaking the rules that they are claiming you did.

  • AJW on 10/07/2017 - 11:32

    Tell them you left and came back, hence the 2 separate tickets.
    If they have cctv to prove you wrong - even better, you can prove you were only 90 mins :)

  • idonotknowwhy on 10/07/2017 - 12:33

    I wish that were the most stupid mistake I'd ever made.

  • JelIyfish on 10/07/2017 - 15:57

    If this is the worst thing that's ever happened to you then you need to take more risks.

  • UFO on 10/07/2017 - 23:59

    OP, there's sticking to your principles and then there's valuing your time and energy.

    Yes, you've got at least partial grounds to appeal… and I say partial because under the terms of entry you haven't followed the conditions (couldn't be bothered typing it all again, plenty of people have already mentioned the issues), but seriously… is it worth it?

    A day in Court, the days and weeks prior stressing about it, and with no guarantee of victory, for the sake of $100 just suck it up and put it down to a learning experience. It's just not worth it. Yeah yeah its not fair bla bla bla… but sometimes life throws you a curve ball. Just be thankful this is your "biggest mistake", and be happy with the cards you've been dealt. Because believe me, you are definitely beating the house at present :).

  • nobarginsarehere on 11/07/2017 - 02:03

    If this is "the most stupid mistake you've ever made", pay the fine and move on

    You are going to make worse mistakes than this lol

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