Vancouver Travel Forum

Hi, sorry again itīs me asking for more help. My experience here has been good but Iīm going to leave here with a bad feeling ( I donīt know how to express that in English )Iīm really crossed with the injustice and the bad manners I was treated here in Vancouver last Sunday by the officer 0342. I have been tourist for many years and travel for many places and I have never seen such a behaviour.

We were in downtown , in Gastown, to see a bit of the area, we parked our car at Imperial Parking for two hours. We left there at 15:30 well because we wanted to book a table in the observatory and we coulnīt do it through the web page when we passed by the toursit information I asked my husband to pop me there and ask in the offfice if they could do it for me. A couple of minutes later my husband came, to ask if they had a restroom, the woman there , who was attending me, Cristina, was saying that there was no one, when my daughter came rushing to say that somebody was putting us a fine, that was at 15:42. My husband was no there more than one minute, the woman there can say the time he was in the office, just to ask that question. So I rushed out and tried to talk to him, he didnt listen at allī, the first thing a person should do is to have education to listen what others have to say, and of course I have never though that somebody could be so unflexible.I was really crossed and I said to him, probably you havent been a tourist, have you? and I turned round. We put in the meter 3 dolars to keep on talking to the woman there.

We left there and we drive for a few minutes up to 16:30 , so we decided to stop to see the cruise that we are going to take to Alaska which was going to depart at 17.00 .We put 4 dolars in the meters for half an hour ( maximun allowed is half an hour ) We walked along the corridor to see the cruise and we came back quickly finding another fine for the same person, it was 17;03 , in the clock opposite us. I believe the man did it again on purpose, because it was the same officer, I donīt understand the situation, we donīt mind pying the parking, we always do , but this is incredible. It spoilt part of our day, because nobody wants to be fined that way. Iīm the first one that if somebody doesnīt do things properly they should attend the consequences

So because I think it has been an injustice I would like to know if I can dispute the ticket in any way. I know what I would do in my counry but here is different. I feel impotent. I got in touch with the parking manager but he has belived what the officer has said, it is my words agaisnīt mine.About the fine the second one probably it was bad luck, but can you imagine that Iīm so silly to be fined in two ocassions in one hour?
What can I do?

So, let me see if I understand. Was your car parked on an expired meter both times? This is what "they" will ask you in court. If your answer is other than "no" for both times, I'm not sure you'd have much of a case.

I usually try not to get angry at people where I travel. Perhaps you could have gotten off the second one but he was probably angry you engaged me about not being a tourist.

I would just write it off. I don't think you have a chance here. Hope you at least feel better after writing down the problem!

Let it go - ;=)

Just curious, since your homepage does not state where you are from, what would you do in your country?

As stated above, in each instance you were at fault. Your car does not state that you are a tourist? Is there a country where we can get out of getting or paying a fine because you are a tourist.

Add this to your bag of experience and make sure next time your meter does not run out :-)

Hi,
I donīt know if I express myself clearly. Iīm the first one that if you do something wrong you have to pay for it, but first of all I donīt have these sort od meters but what i donīt understand is that I talked to the officer and he didnīt want to liste, my husband just came to the office for a minute he was still there. can you be a little bit flexible depending on the situation?

I'm not sure what you are trying to tell us -- it seems you are putting money in the meter but getting ticketed? Did you put the ticket on your car dashboard? If you don't put the ticket there, they will assume you have not paid.

Imperial Parking has also a very bad reputation here in Calgary for ticketing people who shouldn't be ticketed. There was a huge controversy here about it maybe 4-5 years ago. The upside is: Don't worry about your tickets/fines if you have not paid. They cannot legally pursue you. Many people here avoid parking in their lots and I personally will walk 10 blocks before giving them my business.

I hope otherwise your trip has given you happy memories of Canada/Alaska.

I want to clarify: If you have paid the meter correctly and feel you were ticketed wrongly, then I wouldn't worry about it. However if you did NOT pay the meter, you should clear up the situation by paying the money due.

Not sure from your story if you paid for parking or not -- the last part of your story says that you paid the amount at 17:00 then you were ticketed at 17:03?

Imperial Parking is also known to fine you the very second your ticket expires, so if it's expired, there's nothing you can do. They hire attendants who actually sit and wait in the lot, monitoring at all times. Sorry for the multiple replies! too early in the morning.

If you only put coins in the meter after the annoying first dialogue it does not help... Of course, the attendant could be more flexible and nicer but at the end you have no chance.

However, I have never paid my (correct) parking fine in the USA, and nobody has bothered on my later visits. (Totally different in Australia and New Zealand, for example, they pursue you to your homecountry...)

Sorry, I had San Francisco on my mind when I answered... I DO know that Vancouver is not in the USA... ;-)

I would recommend you do 2 things:

1. If the parking fine is billed to your credit card (via the rental car company) then when the charge appears on your credit card, e-mail the rental car company and ask them for specific information about what you're being charged for. They probably won't be able to tell you. Tell them that you're not prepared to pay for something you never authorized. Then contact the credit card company and tell them that you refuse to pay this extra charge.

2. Please visit http://cknw.com and write their news department about your dilemma. Be very specific about the incidents.

What doesn't make any sense to me is that you said that you were parked at "Imperial Parking", yet you put money into a meter. Private parking companies don't have meters so I'm guessing you were parked on the street and were ticketed by someone who worked for the City of Vancouver. Be sure that your facts are honest and perfectly straight.