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Hey Folks, quick question for you. I received a parking ticket in the City of Oshawa, served by a By-Law officer. I was parked in an illegal space according to the Parking By Laws for the City. So here is my story in full. I had parked in the centre of a cul de sac and my daughter pointed out that there was a By-Law Officer ticketing cars, I ran over to my vehicle when he was writing the ticket for a car two over from mine. He stated that I was parked illegaly and I responded that I did not know that and jumped in my car (he was not writing my ticket as this happened) I glanced in my rear view as I pulled away and he was writing my plate # down. I then proceeded to park in a legal spot a few hundred meters away. The officer finished ticketing the original car, then walked down to my car that was now in a legal spot and ticketed it. So a few things, 1) is it legal to ticket my car after the fact like that once its in a legal spot? 2) how precise is the timing convention, i.e. he wrote three tickets within 3 minutes to cars that were at least 400m apart (I have pictures to prove) and finally 3) can he serve me (or my windshield) with the ticket after I have moved it?

Thanks for your help.

S.

Serving you the parking ticket is covered under the Provincial Offences Act and it states:

Service on owner

15(4) The issuing provincial offences officer may serve the parking infraction notice on the owner of the vehicle identified in the notice,

(a) by affixing it to the vehicle in a conspicuous place at the time of the alleged infraction; or

(b) by delivering it personally to the person having care and control of the vehicle at the time of the alleged infraction.

dude... you rock. Thanks.

You got a ticket, so he either gave it to you or placed it on your windshield. In my view you were properly served. Even if you drove off completely, he would've mailed you the ticket after tracing your licence plate number, which is why he was writing down you plate number when you moved the car.

The offence is complete upon you illegally parking. Moving your car to a legal parking spot doesn't mean you weren't illegally parked.

I believe if the case is heard on merit, you're going to lose.

If you manage to drive off before he places the ticket on your windshield, you're clear. The POA states that service occurs

at the time of the alleged infraction

A parking ticket proceeding can also be commenced under Part III of the Provincial Offences Act; by laying an information. This is not served upon the driver, operator or owner at the time of the offence and is still valid.

"Parking infraction", Part II

14. In this Part,

"parking infraction" means any unlawful parking, standing or stopping of a vehicle that constitutes an offence. 1992, c. 20, s. 1 (1).

Proceeding, parking infraction

14.1 In addition to the procedure set out in Part III for commencing a proceeding by laying an information, a proceeding in respect of a parking infraction may be commenced in accordance with this Part.

PART III

COMMENCEMENT OF PROCEEDING BY INFORMATION

Commencement of proceeding by information

21. (1) In addition to the procedure set out in Parts I and II for commencing a proceeding by the filing of a certificate, a proceeding in respect of an offence may be commenced by laying an information.

You have a valid argument though, that since he issued the ticket under Part II, and not Part III, he might have had to serve you immediately.

In my view, the court would find that he did, even though he finished serving another car first.

It's an interesting scenario. Theoretically the prosecutor could drop the ticket and the officer could issue a part 3 notice. But they'd really have to be out to get you to do that. I'm talking an Al Capone tax evasion kind of way. At that point it amounts to a battle of egos and wills, not a battle for justice.

As to how the judge sees it, I guess there's two approaches:

1. cross-examination where you ask was the car parked illegally when you placed the ticket on it?

2. testifying that once you recognized the inadvertent wrong you focussed on minimizing the harm: "When I realized I was not parked where I was allowed to be, I moved the car."

p.s. My understanding of the discussion board rules is that I cannot link to my own site, but anyone else can anytime they want.

Only links that offer news or informational content, other than your own, should be placed in posts.