luca

I got a parking ticket which does not look like it was issued by the city.
Are private companies even allowed to give tickets? Will this thing show up when i go to renew my plate sticker or anything?



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marker

Look again at that "ticket".

It's not a notice of violation, but an invoice for parking your vehicle on private property without advance payment or permission.

It's perfectly legal, and has been upheld by the courts as an acceptable pracyice.

You don't have to worry about not being able to renew your plates if you don't pay. But if you don't pay, they will turn the invoice amount over to a collection agency.

You not paying that invoice could hit your credit rating for the next 7 or more years.

luca

Alright thanks a lot for the information. I was just a little bit weary of paying online by credit card to this thing because I have seen some stuff on the news about faulty private parking stuff.

Also thought it was a little bit strange that the payment was going to BC instead of something local.

Anyways its paid...definately not worth screwing my credit rating over a $25 parking ticket.

marker

The "faulty" private parking stuff came up in Toronto, and pertained to companies issuing their own parking "tickets" rather than calling in city parking enforcement to write up the tickets.

The city passed a bylaw making private parking ticket invoices illegal. They claimed they were "looking out for teh citizens", but in reality they wanted exclusive control over parking tickets and the fine revenue that comes from them. They were advising people to just ignore any tickets other than official City of Toronto parking tags.

A couple of big players in Toronto that issue private parking tickets on their own properties, like the one you got, challenged the bylaw in the courts around a year or two back and won, so that bylaw is null and void now. Private tickets are once again legal to control parking on private property.