(no subject)

[learnedax]

Last week I got a parking ticket (for $40, which seems unusually high for the area to me, but maybe Somerville is just generally more severe that way) on some friends' street, where no one ever gets ticketed, and where there aren't any obvious signs declaring the legality of parking there. Annoying, but oh well. I went to pay it online last night, and noticed a) the ticket number didn't seem to exist in their system, but more importantly b) the registration on the ticket isn't mine. Shares no characters in common with mine, in fact. It's still for a Saturn, color "GY"*, and there did not seem to be any other Saturns nearby... but it's not issued for my car.

So should I pay it?


*Which komos believes means "GreenY" (it's a sort of metallic wintergreen) and I believe means "GaY".

Comments

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

No. Not your car, not your problem.

[tamarinne.livejournal.com]

I say no. A lot of times people will stick their parking tickets on someone else's car in the hopes that the person will pay it without noticing that it's not for them.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

If you are feeling unusually flush and full of belief in karmic payback, sure. But otherwise no.

(Also, $40 sounds even a bit shy of standard. I know all the street-cleaning tickets are $50 in Somerville and things tend to go up from there. Someone's trying to pull budget-funding out this apparently bottomless hole.)

[mesatchornug.livejournal.com]

nope. you're not responsible. sounds like someone else stuck it on your car, hoping you wouldn't notice that it's not your ticket, and you'd pay it.

contest it on the grounds that it's not your car. or just do nothing. then whoever owns the registration it's against will get a reminder, with late penalties...

is the ticket actually for the address/area you were parked in?

[dervishspin.livejournal.com]

No.
It sounds like someone left it on your car as a way of getting out of paying it, or someone causing mayhem picked up a ticket off of someone else's car and left on yours as a joke. Call the registry and figure out if there is something you can do to pass the ticket on to it's rightful owners.

[rising-moon.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't. It's not your ticket.

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was for the street I was on, during the time I was there.

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

Maybe... the fact that it was for my make and (I think) color car makes it seem like a lot of work to go to for just sticking a ticket someplace. I'm wondering whether the officer wrote down the plate number of the guy next to me, who's now going to get angry notices from the city.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

As far as the system is concerned, it is not your ticket. So, clearly, there will be no repercussions for you if you choose not to pay. Failing to match any character on your plate is not a simple error. So, either it was for another car, and someone's trying to stiff you, or it is a complete fabrication on the part of a traffic cop trying to fill a quota (which aren't supposed to exist anymore, iirc).

The only things at issue, then, are your desire for good karma and/or sense of "fair play". If you want to give a gift to some other motorist who tried to stiff you with his check, pay it. Otherwise, don't.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'd probably call the Somerville parking clerk and ask what they wanted you to do with the not-your-ticket that you have.

[buddhagrrl.livejournal.com]

considering that it could have been the officer's screw-up, I would write a letter, point out that it's not your car's plate # and you suspect a transcription error, so whoever the ticked actually belongs to should have their late fee waived, but also that there is no signage indicating parking is not allowed.

In the past when I had a questionable ticket that DID have my correct car info on it, I sent in a payment along with a letter explaining why I thought they should reimburse me but that I didn't want to delay my payment waiting for a reply and risk a late fee, and they did in fact send me a check for 30 bucks and a brief note saying the ticked was cancelled.

[riccakitty.livejournal.com]

they are all right. since the plate does not match yours at all. it's not your responsibility. no matter how much the cop might have fucked up writing it.

I would call the city and say. I found this ticket in the street. it's not my plate #. what do you want me to do with it?

Don't mention that it was found on your car, or that your car type matches.
because then they will just try and say well it was obviously meant for your car and so pay it.
In-fact don't offer them any other information about you at all.

The fact is, none of us really know if it was a fuck up on the officer's part, or on someone trying to scam you into paying their ticket. It was windy and could have blown off someone's car and someone else put it on yours noticing the model is the same type.

So just report it as found. that way they can process it and mail it to the proper candidate.
If they have the plate, they have the address of the plate owner and can mail a duplicate.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I think GY means Grey which they often use for 'pastel'.

And no, that ain't your ticket.

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

All cars are grey, at night.

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

Or even sometimes in the daytime. I was once given a very hairy eyeball by an officer who was certain the car was clearly grey, but the registry said it was blue. Wasn't helped that I couldn't produce the actual registration.

[eclecticmagpie.livejournal.com]

You've gotten enough advice about the ticket in question. As for the posting, not all parking laws are posted on the street. In particular, nighttime winter parking bans and overall parking limits are both posted at the borders of towns, or at least some of them -- so, for example, driving into Boston, you *may* notice a sign at the exit from the highway saying that there is a 2 hour maximum parking limit, which means that EVEN if you feed the meter, a cop can and will give you a ticket if you are parked somewhere more than 2 hours. Even though it's not posted on the street in question.

I am sure there are other "hidden" rules and regs, some of which you are just expected to know in order to have a license, and some of which are posted in obscure places. Winter bans, for example, you are apparently supposed to look up when you move to town.