“Disputing Parking Tickets But Still Can't Renew Sticker...”

April 2016- Got 2 tickets for no apparent reason in the same lot on different days. (Triple checked I was following all the appropriate rules of this lot both times.)

April 2016- Initiated disputes at the courthouse.

July 2016- Moved to a new address. Called the courthouse to advise of address change. Was advised to go to the court house again in person and update the address. Went to court house, updated the address and was told the court dates would be sent to the new address.

August 2016- Called to check on tickets court dates. Still no court date.

January 2017- Went to service ontario outlet to renew sticker. Was told I have to pay the fines. I then Called the courthouse to find out I had missed court and the court dates were sent to the wrong (old) address. Was later told it's not possible to update the address in any case. The court dates are always sent to the original address on file no matter what. (WTF!?!?)

Febuary 2017- Went to courthouse to apply for a reopening of the court cases for these two tickets.

Febuary 14th 2017- Was granted reopening by justice of peace. Was told that in (at most) 4 business days the tickets would no longer appear on my record as outstanding fines and I could then renew my sticker.

Feb 23rd- Went to Service Ontario to renew sticker. Fines still appear and still can not renew... Called court house and they said they filed the appropriate papers to the Ministry of Transportation already and there's nothing they can do.

I've done nothing wrong and still I've had: 3 trips to courthouse (and 2 long phone calls), 2 trips to Service Ontario, insurance payments still being made for a car I own but I still can't drive legally (indefinitely!?)

This is my first year living in Ontario is this how Ontario citizens are regularly treated?

I've written and called the ministry of Transportation but what should I do now?

Call your MP. They should get involved.

This is definitely not normal, somebody either at MTO, the court house or Service Ontario has screwed up and they are not owning up to it. It sucks that all these entities are pointing the finger at each other instead of working to resolve the problem. If you haven't already, see if you can get a hold of a supervisor at MTO and see if they are willing to help resolve this issue. If they aren't then I would agree with argyll that your MP's office is the next best step.

2017-02-24-Update:

Yesterday sent an email to the MP. Got a swift reply from MP's office that this is a matter for the MPP. Wrote an email to the MPP.

Yesterday sent an email and left a voice message with the Ministry of Transport.

Today I called the courthouse again. Usually I am greeted with this "Ya we get this all the time, there's nothing we can do, go away" attitude from a Service Canada or a courthouse employee but today someone sounded willing to help and promised to follow up with the person who is in charge of corrospondance with the Ministry and have them track down the problem with the Ministry. The courthouse can not tell me what service canada can or can not see but they assure me that the tickets have been gone from the court system since the 13th.

Today went for a walk to service canada again, when I explained the tickets are not supposed to be there the lady just said "You want sticker, pay ticket now or no sticker."

Thankfully I work at home but I guess it's not impossible that I get another parking ticket for not having a valid sticker while parked in my appartments lot.

Incidently, what happens if I get a parking ticket for expired sticker at this point? Could I fight it?

Call CBC !!!

Every day I call service Ontario and the fines are still there and they claim there is nothing they can do.

Every day I call the courthouse and they say it's all good on there end and the fines should be removed by now. "It went through on their end." They say all they can do is resend the info.

MPP has been calling me and is getting the same runaround when he tries to help me.

I've been told by a couple of service ontario reps that sometimes this process can take over a month although the courthouse people always say 4 business days.

I've been told by a lawyer that if I really need(ed) my vehicle then I can pay the supposed fines and later take steps to recoup the money... (I can't sue for damages caused by not having my vehicle... but can sue if necessary to recoup th fines if I ended up paying them just to get my truck on the road.)

Finally resolved.

March 15th I spoke with someone especially helpfull sounding at Service Ontario Call Center. He heard my story and supposedly did a full investigation including calling (or having his supervisor call) the DFCC(?). He called me back the next day informing me that the DFCC (Where the courthouse is supposed to be sending the info) has not recieved any information from the courthouse and that I should contact the courthouse and specifically ask a supervisor to contact the DFCC. I was told there is a protocol specifically for this scenerio and the supervisor should know what to do.

March 16th I called the courthouse and followed the above advice.

March 17th The fines were cleared and I was able to renew my sticker.

I'm glad to hear that you were finally able to get a hold of someone who actually took ownership of the problem instead of just trying to pass the buck off to someone else. It sucks that you had to do so much running around to solve what was a relatively simple problem.

Glad you got it resolved finally. And thanks for sharing the solution.