Last Updated on October 30, 2017 by Lawrence Berezin
Begin with the fundamentals of fighting NYC parking tickets
I enjoyed watching the T.V. game show, Concentration, way back in 1969. The goal of the game was to match prizes hidden under numbered squares. A contestant picked a number, the square rotated and revealed a prize. Then, the contestant had to find a second numbered square that revealed the same prize. Here’s how the game was played:
The same rules apply to fighting NYC parking tickets. The aggrieved member of the driving community must pick the defense that eradicates the parking violation
Don’t just guess, find the right defense to beat your parking ticket
I’ve received a rash of calls from wonderful members of our driving community complaining about losing their parking ticket fight. I’d ask them what defense they raised in fighting their parking violation. You can’t imagine the cornucopia of inedible defenses that were submitted to the Evil Empire:
- I only ran into the store for 2 minutes and left my flashers on (defense to double parking)
- I dropped off my son in a bus stop zone with his suitcase in hand
- I stopped in front of our house, and my wife and I unloaded the groceries to the vestibule of our home (no standing defense)
- Only the front bumper of my car extended into the no parking zone. Most of my car was legally parked (no parking defense)
- The parking ticket warrior was wrong when she wrote I was 2 feet from the fire hydrant (defense to a fire hydrant violation)
- I wrote a very polite letter to the Evil Empire explaining that the parking sign was way down the other end of the block, so I didn’t see it
- In my neighborhood, you’re permitted to double park on the unrestricted side of the street during street cleaning hours
- I explained to the judge that I had my car inspected immediately after getting a parking ticket for failure to display a current inspection sticker
- I wrote to the judge that I didn’t park at the place of occurrence entered on the parking ticket. Why didn’t she believe me?
- I was just waiting in the car for my wife to finish shopping (in a no parking zone). I wasn’t parking, I was only standing because I remained in the car
- I remained seated in my car with the keys in the ignition directly in front of a fire hydrant at 10:00 P.M.
Do a little homework to match the legal defense to the parking crime you are seeking to eradicate
Please, I beseech you not to shoot from the hip when you fight a parking ticket. If you follow a step-by-step process and play parking ticket concentration, you’ll exponentially increase your chances of winning. For example:
- Check first for omitted, misdescribed, required elements
- Play Concentration
- No Parking: “I stopped temporarily to drop off or pick up a passenger and his suitcase, and skedaddled”
- No Standing: “I stopped temporarily to drop off or pick up a passenger, and skedaddled”
- Fire Hydrant: 1) Prove that you parked your chariot more than 15 feet from the fire hydrant [HINT: check the place of occurrence entered on your parking ticket and make sure it’s within 15 feet of the fire hydrant. You’ll be amazed at how many times a warrior enters a place of occurrence that is clearly more than 15 feet from the hydrant] 2) Prove that a licensed driver remained seated behind the wheel with the keys ready to move your passenger vehicle between sunrise and sunset
- Blocking the Box: If you failed to make it through the intersection before the light turned red, identify the exact reason why. [HINT: Was it was because pedestrians began crossing the street before the light turned red and blocked the crosswalk? Or was it because the warriors directed cars to park on both sides of the street immediately after the crosswalk where they issued parking tickets and thereby turned 3 travel lanes into 1? If so, these are winning defenses if presented properly]
- Failure to display Muni-Meter receipt: If you paid for the time, you win by submitting the paid receipt that matches or is within 5 minutes of the time the parking ticket was entered. Don’t throw away or discard your MM receipt
Commentary
Here is a super guide that will help you play parking ticket Concentration (published by the Adjudication Unit of the Evil Empire).
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