OHTA.ca

Is there any grace time on parking tickets in the city of Toronto? I go a parking ticket on the 26th that I am wondering if I should fight. I parked on Richmond street downtown and paid until 4pm (at which time it is no parking). I thought I was about 5 mins late getting back to my car, by my watch but when I got there had a ticket that said I got it at 4:06pm. The guy in the car in front of me said he also got one and watched the parking guy just walk away as I came to my car.

So basically I have a $150 parking ticket for being 6 mins late to my car. Seems like this jerk was just sitting there waiting for me to be late. Is there anything I can do about this? Even reduce it? Is it worth the time to fight it?

Toronto courts are backed up so there is a good chance that if you fight it, it will take more than a year to get a trial date and then you can get it dropped by filling an 11b "right to timely trial".

What's the process for filing an 11b? Do I file it as soon as a court date is issued? What is the amount of time needed for 11b to apply?

Here is the link to a thread that goes through how to file an 11b application. Typically in order for 11b to apply your court date has to be a year or more away from the day you filed your ticket for court.

While the Toronto traffic courts are back logged, they do triage tickets based on the seriousness of the offence. So the more expensive your ticket the more likely they are to find a court date for you within the legally mandated time. That having been said it is probably worth filing for court, if nothing else it means you won't have to pay it until after your court date and there is always the possibility that a way to beat the ticket will present it self.

As rush hour begins they are mandated to ticket and tow all vehicles parked illegally on arterial roads. You are lucky you did not get towed and incur another $150 in towing and storage.

The grace period does not apply when overstaying a meter and it becomes a no parking or stopping zone.

Grace periods are tough. If 6 minutes is a grace period then what about 7 ? If 7 is ok then what about 8 ?

Mind you the same could be said for speeding as well.

Toronto within the last 2 years has had a zero tolerance with rush hour parking. Congestion was a hot topic during the last mayoral election and having a zero tolerance on rush hour parking was accepted quite favorably by the public. It was one of the campaign promises John Tory ran on. The idea being why should one person be able to inconvenience thousands. Unfortunately for you, it's not a charge the population has much sympathy for.

They aren't fooling around with this kind of charge anymore. If you're charged during a blitz, they aren't waiting for you to move your car, they'll move it for you.

In the end, none of this really matters. Whether it's 2 minutes after 4pm or 30, you're still guilty. I'm just trying to give some insight on the "grace period" aspect of it that was asked.

It's one of those tickets where you'd have to consider how much your time is worth. If not, start by requesting a trial and go from there. You might want to get a notice of trial first before hanging your hat on any 11b application. You'll have appear at your trial and it's possible your application may be denied anyways.