Parking In Handicap Zone
I was in Stratford Ontario the other day and received a $300.00 ticket for parking in a handicap zone. I would never have done that knowingly and missed the sign due to it's location and the confusion of so many other parking signs surrounding it. All other signs indicated that these two metered parking spots were ok to park in and openly faced me, the motorist, as I approached coming down the road. The no parking in a handicap sign, along with a second parking by permit sign, both faced straight out to the opposite side of the road and were not visible as one approached the spots by car. Once I pulled in, again, they were not visible as they were raised high and located to the rear of the vehicle and did not have any writing facing the meter as I dropped by money in.
Imagine my surprise, later that day, when I returned and found a ticket. I checked the meter, still 2 hours left on it, I checked the no parking arrows, which where to either side of the two spots and walked out unto the roadway and saw the handicap signs.
Important to note that the handicap sign itself was barely visible as all the paint/colour had worn off. You could see a faint imprint of where the red P and line through it was and the blue handicap portion was completely faded out as well. The second lower sign, stating by permit only during certain hours was still visible.
I'm conscientious and was paying close attention to all the other disabled signs, clearly visible and facing me as I drove down the streets as well as the no parking due to bus zones, etc. I just find it frustrating that this one sign was not visible to approaching traffic and easily missed as we jumped out of the cars (it was cold, running and windy yesterday) and put our money into the meter.
Any suggestions? Any help would be appreciated. As well, what would be an acceptable amount if the city were to compromise and lower the amount of the ticket?
