A few weeks ago I received a $120 fine for parking in a controlled car park without displaying a valid ticket. The parking signs in the area were obscured by low-hanging tree branches and some were missing altogether, so it wasn't obvious that the area was a zone where a parking ticket was required. Given this, I took some photos of the obscured and missing signs then lodged a dispute with the local government authority.
Fast forward a few weeks and I received an email stating that the parking infringement had been withdrawn. The reason given was that I had provided them with evidence of a valid parking ticket at the time the infringement notice was issued. There was also some other information about how to ensure that parking tickets are displayed correctly to avoid fines in the future, and advice that if I received another ticket I would be liable to pay the fine irrespective of whether I was able to provide evidence of a valid ticket.
Clearly there has been some sort of administrative screw-up that has benefited me, but I've been thinking about the following:
Given the parking signs are obscured and missing, I still think that the local government needs to rectify the problem so that other people aren't caught out.
If I purchase a parking ticket in the future and am given a fine for it not being displayed correctly, I've effectively burnt my amnesty pass on this infringement. Ideally I'd like to have that amnesty pass re-instated.
I'd like to let the person in the infringements department know that they've screwed up so that they can rectify the problem and not get in trouble with their superiors (in much the same way as I let shop keepers know if they give me more change than they should), but I don't want this to kick off a review of my fine and force me to go an appeal or CAT process if they decide that my reasons for not buying a ticket are invalid.
Thoughts?
just let it go.
move on with your life.
creating this post was too much