It’s bad enough to be stuck with a parking ticket when you deserved to get dinged, but much worse when you were obeying the rules and still got hammered due to a glitch.
Brett says he’s received two Washington, D.C. tickets for violations he didn’t commit. He’s fought them by mail but hasn’t received a response.
He writes:
I am a resident of Arlington, VA. Living in such close proximity to Washington, D.C. means an occasional romp into the city. In the last 6 months the D.C. DMV has fined me for two parking violations I have not committed. I have fought the tickets via their mail adjudication system, yet they are still holding me liable despite seemingly conclusive evidence of my innocence.The first is for $100 for not registering my tags in D.C. This would be hard to do considering I have been a permanent resident of Arlington since June of 2007. I have had the same landlord the entire time I have lived in VA. The D.C. DMV’s evidence against me is that an officer spotted my vehicle parked on the same street twice within 180 days. It was the street my girlfriend was living on at the time. I have plead my case via mail to the DMV providing overwhelming evidence that I am a resident of VA and therefore not legally obligated to register my car within D.C. Despite this evidence, D.C. is still charging me with the violation. I have contemplated sending them the $100 check with a date of 12/1/2050, but I’m not sure if I can get away with that, legally speaking.
I also received a $25 citation for an expired parking meter. The ticket was issued at 9:26 PM, but the meter did not require payment after 6 PM. I have plead my case via the DMV’s website’s adjudication system. I am still awaiting a decision.
How do I fight the D.C. parking ticket machine? I am innocent and am not high on paying $125 for fines unjustly levied against me. Hiring a lawyer would probably cost more than the fines. Is there any legal action I can take against the D.C. DMV for levying these fines without cause? I’m so frustrated with these municipal monkeys who can’t put two and two together.
The idea to send a post-dated check is definitely the wrong course of action, since banks can and will cash checks regardless of the date.
If you’ve fought parking tickets and won, how did you do it?
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Pay the fine in pennies.
I live in DC. They do give out a lot of tickets.
Every time I’ve gotten one that I felt was undeserved, I sent them a well written letter. I explained the situation, and gave any proof that I had.
Every time the ticket was waived.
They seem to be pretty good about it.
Oh, and to add.
It takes months for them to send you a response to your letters. As long as the letter is in by the ticket date, you don’t have to worry about them coming after you.
My fiancé and I got a parking ticket for not paying the meter in Dupont, except we had paid the meter via the new pay by phone thing. We’re going to send the ticket in and “deny” it, and I’m SOOO bookmarking this post in case they try to say we owe anyway.
i just got a ticket in NW DC for “parking too close to a driveway.” umm…okay…there was a space of at least 4 feet between my rear bumper and the driveway opening, but “T Proctor” wrote me the ticket anyway. also, there was no “no parking” sign anywhere, only the green 2 hour zone 3 signs.
i took a picture and will protest it, but i’m sure DC will say too bad. i just can’t believe that’s a ticketable offense.
DC is banking on you lacking the motivation to fight such supposed violations. It’s no coincidence that they stepped up enforcement as the district began to have greater money problems than usual.
Simple. Have them charged in federal court with racketeering. You situation does meet the necessary definition.
Based on my girlfriend’s experience, it takes a very long time to get a decision response via mail. Somewhere around a year for her. Worked in her favor though when they easily could have gone either way.
DC seems to be going nuts lately with the parking tickets. The bottom line is that there is a serious shortage of parking. Like many other older cities, it simply wasn’t designed to accommodate the cars of its residents and certainly not those of its many commuters and visitors. Rarely is the solution to actually create parking, but instead to encourage public transportation and cracking down to make parking an even bigger pain.
My friend recently got hit with a “same street in 180 days” notice while I was with him. We were visiting a local business (bar) as usual. Not a fine, but 2nd warning (3 strikes, i guess though a 1st was never received). To be fair, his VA registration had expired. However for some reason DC feels it’s ok to fine you for a crime that they haven’t actually proved. It’s up to you to disprove it after the fact. Naturally this is a time consuming process that they count on you not to bother with, either resulting in you avoiding driving to DC or scoring them more money on the next violation. Wouldn’t surprise me if the location they give you to fight it is not easily accessible to visitors.
i’ve gotten exactly 5x $20 parking tickets while at school….i don’t see how they make the same number of spots for faculty/staff vs students, when the ratio is more than 10:1……its built like a scam, and i just love how i’m rolling the aisles only to see the adjacent lot with 20 empty and unused spots on a daily basis
i appealed to the highest level every time…they didn’t reduce or even forgive the first offense when i was a freshman
nothin much i can do now, but all i know is when i’m an alum, they won’t get a single penny til i get reimbursed
i was going to pledge a certain amount per annual year, but lets see if they’ll make the no-brainer deal… give me back my $100, so i can pledge to give $100 a year