The worst place to park in Canada: Parking ticket traps, unfair tickets (CBC Marketplace)

This is the market, the first nationwide

ticket

cheat takedown, you're only getting cash and it's happening day and date undercover in the subway to move locations to the

park

ing attendants who caught you ripping off, but you're not going to pay for it. , no, no, oh, definitely. No, you can take this van, throw it in the trash, and find ways to make yourself pay, possibly in a city where you can't escape without paying for

park

ing. You can still do it, but I would say it's a difficult game. its market with over 23 million cars on the streets more than ever before

parking

enforcement has become big business.

There has never been a national survey of

parking

ticket

s, so Market

place

collects data on more than 15 million

tickets

, most of which are being made public for the first time. We crunched the numbers and found Canada's

worst

ticket

traps

first in Winnipeg, where our data shows they have the highest fines in the country. Brian McKay will take us on a tour you won't want to miss and that he can take himself. the vehicle just because people may need the sign properly. He worked handing out parking funds for the last five years but this week he resigned fed up with people getting

unfair

tickets

.

I said, are you kidding me? Don't take it there, right? I'm going to reveal how you can be tricked into getting tagged with an expensive ticket. Stop at the exchange district first. There is a sign here that tells me that for two hours I can park between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. m. and 5:30 p.m., so I can park here. No, that will get your ticket, but. the sign says I can park there, yes, but you will be too close to the fire hydrant. The statute says you have to be ten feet from the fire hydrant, but both signs on either side say you can park in the middle confused, but we're sure we're the.

The signs are so close together that if you park two cars there they will both incur a violation. Data shows that $23,000 in fines were issued in this location alone last year. This sounds like a bureaucrat's dream. I got tired of it. Brian too. I got tired of this next ticket trap, one of the

worst

I've ever seen, that's something I never wrote a ticket for because I didn't believe it, that's something I go, that's not fair. Kasia Buchman doesn't think this is fair either, she works with her. young woman in crisis one day she is called to the health center parks her car pays for parking and crosses the street but when she returns before her time expires she has five minutes left and I still have a parking ticket of $35 seventy yes no No I will pay within 15 days for something surprising for parking within three meters of an unmarked crosswalk that is definitely not a crosswalk.

It's right behind you, right, and here, where is the crosswalk? I can't see it, there is no pedestrian crossing, we go down there. Take a look and then you were parked here. In fact, I parked a little further away, right here, where the sign says I can park. That sign says you can park behind this sign. Look what happens when we cross. Nobody stops for us. That? Do you think it's not a pedestrian crossing? It is not at all. It used to be someone's old driveway. They should just move the sign more than ten feet and that would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.

Why not? I think they are. It's just a cash grab, that's basically it, it's a cash grab, in fact, our data shows that this side of the street has the third most fines in the city in just one year, over ninety-six thousand dollars. in fines. Veteran defense attorney John Wine Gus has spent part of his long career challenging the legality of parking tickets at age 86. He still defends people in court. I think it should be regulated. OK. It should not be used for income purposes. The data shows here in the city of Toronto. One hundred million dollars.

Parking fines are issued each year. Two hundred and forty-seven tickets are issued every hour or the city basically puts it, they issue these parking tickets to ensure a safe flow of traffic. Oh, that's nonsense, because traffic safety Buffalo has nothing to do with parking for parking. you know, blocking rush hour, that has to be a traffic boom, that's right, rush hour is in the regulations, you can't park during rush hour, so it's just about stealing from people, you think of everything motorist theft, absolutely 100 million dollars a year. year in income not inconsiderable for this, it is true and they are not going to give up that.

Toronto is not alone. Understands this. Our data tells us that Halifax says fines are cheaper, but Halligan Ian gets more fines per resident than anywhere else in Canada. In Winnipeg, data reveals that the ticket

traps

Brian shows us are also some of the highest ticket locations in the city, like this third trap on Geary Street. More than $30,000 in fines were imposed here last year. We caught Kim about to pay to park, so can you park here? I think I can, yeah, it seems I can't, the signs are time, if I should tell me, so what does this sign say?

Kim means I think there is no parking but it is loading and this means I can park. here for up to two hours what's behind you where is the loading zone since you can plot she may be on something Brian says he pointed out these ticket traps to the city, including the infamous ghost crosswalk, he said this It's a little

unfair

, maybe someone should sign the report and have it taken down because it's just not right. These drivers don't think it's right either. Today they are outside warning other motorists not to park here. They've been handing them out for decades right there and it's time for it to end, so why doesn't the city fix its confusing signs armed with our list of ticket traps?

I meet with the Winnipeg Parking Authority's compliance and regulations manager, Ryan Arab Ski, we speak with a gentleman who recently resigned, he says, despite having let the Parking Authority know about these issues, nothing has been done. nothing, why yes? Well, I may not agree with that. In three years, we have sent 546 signage deficiencies to public works to address tens of thousands of dollars each year, the city divides it into revenue for that crosswalk. Yeah, why don't they change it? Of all the signage issues that come to our attention, we will definitely look into it. People call it a bait trap.

Yes, do you agree with that? No, I don't actually know, there definitely could be areas. where we issue more tickets, but that's because of the high demand and the convenience of that particular parking spot, apparently it's not very convenient for a lot of people who understand that you know they park, the sign is very clear, you can park. to the mail, but they still receive fines for this. I call it a ghost crosswalk. Okay, that's fair. I mean, no, it's a cut-out sidewalk and it's definitely a walkway. Yes, isn't it revenue gathering? For you, this is not a revenue problem at all, no, but just a few weeks after our interview, a small victory for the dolls in Winnipeg mode, they move that sign, ammunition for the hideouts, the next battle, which just so happens to fall In his birthday.

I have a feeling you're not. I'm going to let this go, right? I will be going to court on my birthday to fight the $35 fine. I need help with your parking battle. We have many traps and tricks to reveal about your city on Facebook, like in Vancouver, where there are thirty-two. Millions of dollars in fines were issued last year and guess where one of the top ticket locations is here, on the same block as a Parking Authority office. Parking wars intensify the way they conduct their business. We'll give you two a collection agency. and then hit your car when you don't pay that fine sign up for our newsletter at cbc.ca slash Market

place

the real deal on parking tickets in your market we're policing this underground parking garage in Mississauga Ontario oh here he comes investigating the big business of parking enforcement parking in Canada.

I have to move twice to get a job. Is there something shady going on in the subway? We'll find out in a second, but first release a boat and your dad Val takes care of our parking. Val is crazy. A software engineer in Mississauga, Ontario has a job interview a couple of months ago, so he parks his car in this Toronto parking lot and pays to park until the end of the day to be safe, but when he leaves it's only an hour longer late, I was I'm very surprised to see this received stuck here and I say what the hell.

I already paid a $69 ticket and 75 cents for not showing a valid receipt. Val says he did show the receipt to him. I did everything right. I have my receipt here, but this ticket. not from the city says park link accurate a private parking company paid by the property owner to install and maintain the machines and patrol the lot accurate in part I don't know what is accurate it's not just cities after your parking money Large private companies like Precision Park Link are profiting from processing more than $600 million a year in transactions. It is one of the largest in Canada.

Why do sixty-nine seventy-five precisely say that's the fine per day if you don't buy parking at the current Valley meter? Meltem a photo has paid the bill but her dispute is denied why because she didn't pay her $10 feet in dispute anything on her ticket about a dispute fee then Val starts receiving letters threatening to send her ticket to collections votes daughter ELISA helps them by giving them accurate data a call that paid for a full day $8.00 and now we are receiving sixty nine dollars and seventy five cents for a parking a parking ticket which is ridiculous looking at the photos that the controller checks, we have never received those photos, it is well, that would be great.

And what will happen if we don't pay it? I don't have to alter our vehicle. Did you have the authority to collect the toll? Okay, release and Val wait to receive the email with the photos. It's her car, yes, uncheck it. is exactly behind this ticket, Val says look closely and you can see the edge of their receipt displayed on the dashboard, the way they conduct their business, we will take you to a collection agency and then we will charge the toll on your car , well, you want to instill fear. that's not right, imagine how many people do this, if so we're not the first ones this happens to, she's right, we found complaint after complaint from all over the country, including David Leo in Vancouver who receives a letter from the nothingness of a precise person. demanding $100 for a ticket from three years ago, says he's never seen them, they threatened to leave a mark and my credit rating unless I settle the ticket with them, he writes, we want to see how fair and accurate Parkland is in handing out tickets , so we bet.

On some of their lots, these precise officers appear to be issuing tickets fairly, but in this underground lot in Mississauga, Ontario, watch as this particular patrol officer, who we know is also a supervisor, goes around the lot handing out multiple tickets after that he left Take it out and see that he has actually tagged two cars with a second ticket, another precise patrol officer has already tagged these cars earlier in the day, so now each one is showing one hundred and forty dollars, double the precise fine he says they they will charge per day if not You don't pay around the corner, the same precise supervisor tags EULA Daly's cars, not nice, an unfair fine, since she did the right thing and registered her license plate, you go down to the parking lot and they put you a fine, but Yola will defend herself so that you don't do it.

I'm going to pay it no, oh, definitely not well, definitely not, no, no, no, we reached out to the park's precise liaison to talk about these and other unfair fines they have issued, including vocal ones, but they decline our invitation to appear on camera, so it's time to get help. from parking ticket defense attorney, John Wayne Gust, it was a pleasure to meet you, it might seem like this is not really a parking ticket, it is not a valid parking ticket, but what they are doing is trying to get a sentence on your against without even going to court, so the parking ticket. there is only one judge and jury you are basically saying its true this is what they do they trick people by putting up a parking bill since they think it is right and they have the right to do what they want however my respectful opinion is that you can.

Take this ticket and throw it in the trash, how do you feel about my camera involving my mind in what you're doing? So many people are falling for this, so unless an accurate link from the park takes these guys to court, I wouldn't pay. let them do that to go after every individual who has not paid their parking funds to all of these private parking tickets floating around Canada right now or any ofthese private parking tickets are not enforceable, but an unpaid private ticket can still affect your credit rating Equifax Canada tells us that it does not accept parking ticket tickets from collection agencies and some good news for Yola, your tickets have now been voided as well That the next time you receive an unfair private parking ticket you will know what to do, it's man against machine, how long will it stop? because ah, he doesn't even get into a truck, eight seconds, spy cars pulling up to a street near you.

You have a story you think we should investigate. Email us at Market Place at cbc.ca. The elimination of fines continues in your market for the first time. markets always look at the data millions of parking tickets across

canada

when something different about calgary catches our attention could this be the future of parking enforcement in

canada

? photo enforcement vehicles like this are now being used to catch parking violators camera cars that drive around taking photos of every parked vehicle on their license plate there is a start to a zone here Park Plus patrol officer Josh Sangha the guard used to give tickets only on foot.

The car can go faster than anyone can walk, so it's much faster, much more efficient, how efficient according to data, Calgary's six camera cars helped eliminate more than 91,000 parking tickets a year . There's no escape if you haven't paid for parking and in Calgary they probably know it. There are people a little more cautious now when they come downtown, people are very aware that we are here, so there is pretty good compliance here at the end of each shift, officers bring their vehicles here, plug them in and all those photos are uploaded to the parking authority's database.

These workers are reviewing those photos. to see if payment was made, then hundreds of tickets are printed every morning and mailed to unsuspecting drivers. Nancy Shea Jr. is a part plus compliance supervisor what we're looking for is payment, you want to make sure that when we scan this vehicle that there is a payment that will cover that period of time, what does this look like? Once this customer paid from ten twenty seven to 14 27, we took his photo twice, we took it at 14 43 and we took it again at 1501, so we let him It's time to get to the payment machines or activate your cell phone account.

However, this one is pretty far away, it's about 20 minutes, so at that point we're going to issue a parking ticket. Go to the next one. Forget the days when you could. Talk to get rid of a fine and people talk about it. This man complains that he has been fined. He stops to make a phone call. The car is still running. I felt like he was doing the right thing. He writes. We've heard stories about people stopping. He makes a phone call, the camera pans and they get a ticket. I know the law requires that once you park your car in a parking plus zone or a payment required zone, you must make payment, it's as simple as that. like the time Steve stopped on this downtown street to pick up his wife when I stopped in the park, plus the camera vehicle was right behind how long will you stop uh I don't even think they would have been eight seconds, it was a In a very short period of time, a couple of weeks later, you receive a $40 fine in the mail.

Seventy-five if you don't pay within 30 days takes away objectivity from the work of parking enforcement officers. They have a lot of discretion built into what they do. They do and when you're just taking pictures of people's license plates, I don't feel like you can get the whole story in a second's glance. I am addressing City Hall to say that the Mayor of Calgary did not tell Nenshi the number of people. I got a call six years into this job saying you know I got pulled over I was dropping someone off and I got a ticket that I can count on one hand and that's out of hundreds of thousands of violations so you just want to have someone to call the mayor's office overflow they call me for everything I try to be in the mayor I know about skunks I know about the neighbor's dog poop people who stop to drop someone off do we really expect them to pay for eight seconds of no, of course? no, and that's the only challenge, but they're usually very easy to dispute, they're not so easy for Steve when he calls parte plus to dispute his ticket, he said, well, in our eyes, there's no difference between stopping and parking. .

Steve was told that he cannot contest. and we'll have to take him to court he pays the fine feeling like it's not worth the cost of losing a day of work last year almost seven million dollars in fines were levied with the help of camera cars so now More cities are realizing the benefits Edmonton Saskatoon Whistler Waterloo Ontario and West Mount Quebec are also starting to use them, but while Canada may be expanding, the United Kingdom has banned the use of camera vehicles to monitor parking, calling them a a clear abuse of CCTV that should be used to catch criminals. and not as a source of income, the UK is getting rid of this technology, why is Calgary adopting it?

It's a little strange that they say I can take a photo of everything you do. I know where you're walking. I know where you're going. I know. where you eat I know where you use the public bathroom but I don't know your license plate number but they used to catch muggers you know terrorism national security issues you're using it to catch people who may not affect the meter precisely difference that's exactly right we're using it to detecting people who didn't feed the meter, this is more than just compliance, it's also a business model, isn't it, you know, and selling it is absolutely a business model and I would love to be one. able to make real money by licensing this in new cities in China, for example, in terms of real fines.

I'd rather get the money from people who pay for parking or from municipalities like Calgary that are addicted to this revenue, even though we are not addicted. but it's a useful way to keep property taxes low and it cements Calgary's reputation as an innovative city as a high-tech city and as a city that focuses on citizen services and, frankly, that's the answer incredibly positive feedback I have received from We have tried it everywhere and possibly in a city where you can't escape without paying for parking. You can still do it, but I would say that it is a difficult game to play.

Steve doesn't think he's lost yet when he just needs to stop for a minute or two. he will use low tech to avoid a high tech tikka trap next week at the market. are you ready for this trip? I never would have guessed I'd be smoking pot on national television, not your father's. marijuana, the things we are using today, that are readily available and used by many people, are a lot of tanka, we are about to legalize a substance that we simply do not have enough data on what is in the super week of today after smoking that type of marijuana.

Psychosis would appear immediately.