Parking Ticket

On Friday afternoon I was out shopping for screws to hang a curtain rod. Parking was very limited in the area of our favourite hardware store. On a side street I saw a long section of open curb space. What luck! I did notice a big "E" with a line through it on the street which means "No Parking". But it did not make sense to me. "Because?" you may ask.

Because, there was a parking lot on the other side of the sidewalk and the entrance was behind where I parked. No way would I be blocking the parking entrance. And besides, people seem to park anywhere they like. So off I went.

I was only gone 10 minutes at most. As I was approaching my car I saw a couple of parking guys strolling down the street. I quickly walked around to the front of the car and saw the parking ticket under the wiper blade. I picked it up and called out to the parking enforcement guy. "Are you truly giving me a parking ticket?", I asked. "Certainly" he responded. "You are in the 'No Parking' zone.", he said very un-apologeticly. Well, I couldn't argue with that logic so I asked where I had to go to pay the fine. He told me then strolled off with his buddy.

Okay, this seems simple enough. Go to the Municipal building downtown and pay the fine. Yes, pay the fine and get my front licence plate back and put it back on my car. Yes, that's right! They took the plate off the car. Apparently the parking enforcement officers carry tools for exactly that purpose. This is an incentive for people to pay the fines. If you do not pay the fine withing 30 days the fine is increased by the original amount. And, if you are stopped for any other reason and you do not have plates on your car you get another fine. And so on and so on!

If you pay the fine within the first 15 days you get a 50% discount. Now, that is an incentive. Of course I do not know what the fine will be because it is not written on the ticket. Maybe $900 pesos.

So the ticket paying process is:
1. Get copies made of your identification. Passport, driver's licence, etc.
2. Stand in line to pay the ticket.
3. Take your payment receipt to the other office across the hall.
4. Stand in line to get your plate back.
5. Present your payed receipt and copies of your identification to the clerk.
6. Wait while he finds your plate and looks-up his copy of your parking ticket in his files and then you write your name and address on the back of his copy signifying that you received your plate.

I was surprised to see that the ticket only cost about C$25. Less expensive then a Toronto parking ticket. Great!

As I write this little blurb it doesn't sound so bad as when I was actually doing it. First off, it was very hot yesterday and it was a 15 minute walk to the Municipal building. I was sweating by the time I got there. I need to walk slower. I went to the little shop next door where they make photocopies. These places are everywhere it seems. Well, this one's copy machine is out of order. I am directed to another just down the way.

'Down the way'. Sure, another 15 minute walk in the heat, stopping at 3 other places asking where a copy place may be then finally being directed to a local Hotel where they made me 2 copies of my passport and car registration for 2 pesos. Very expensive, the equivalent of $.10 Canadian each. Regular copy places charge $.02 each. Oh well!

The only money I had with me at the time was a two hundred peso bill. Which means that I needed one hundred and ninety-eight pesos in change. The front desk clerk had to search around for change and ended up in a secretive closet across the hall and returned with my change which consisted of a fifty peso bill and the remainder in coin. No wonder I was so worn and hot when I returned to the Municipal building to pay the fine. Not only was it hot but I was carrying so much metal.

What did I learn from all this? "Don't get a parking ticket!"