Help with parking ticket
Hi everyone. Thanks in advance for your friendly advice. I received a parking ticket for parking on a side street without a permit today. I misread the sign as saying I needed a permit on only Monday-Friday, but I missed the section saying Saturday was included as well.
Here's the thing: I've only been living here (Milton) for 2 months, my plates are still registered to PEI where I moved from (registration is good well into 2013), and my driver's license and insurance are still registered in PEI. I have no vehicles or driver's licenses, healthcard, etc registered in Ontario.
Do I have to pay this ticket? I am broke and looking for a job and I simply don't have the money to pay it right now. I feel stupid because I did misread the sign, but what am I going to do... What is the best way to proceed here?
Here is a photo I took of the ticket just now: http://i.imgur.com/dsBS9.jpg
If I have to pay it, so be it. Any advice however would be greatly appreciated, I still feel like a dummy. Thanks.
EDIT: A few people seem to think that if I take it to trial, I may have a case if the signage was not visible from the parking space that I parked in (I saw the sign while driving by it; it was not remotely visible from the area in which I parked). Also I have read that if I request a trial in French, the charges will effectively be dropped as the trial date will never come. I would prefer to just fly under the radar like I initially said, but if that won't work, and anyone knows any interesting tricks like this, that would really help me. Thanks again.
ANOTHER EDIT: Thank you all for your helpful responses so far. At this point, it's looking like I have 2 options: 1-pay the ticket. 2-schedule a court date and hope that the trial takes long enough so that my right to a timely trial will have been violated or hope that the officer doesn't show up. The consensus seems to be that a ticket under $60 is not worth fighting, though.
At this point it's starting to seem like paying the ticket is the best way out. If I do get a court date, it will inevitably be at some point in the day where I have to fight traffic for a few hours just to get to the trial (or pay $15-$20 for public transit), and it's still no guarantee that I'll get off. I'm told by Jenicyd's link that I will receive correspondence in the mail pertaining to court, etc if I do not pay the ticket. My question is, where are they getting my mailing address? I have nothing registered in Ontario - Revenue Canada is the only government agency of any kind that knows my current address. If they send it to my old address is PEI, is that my fault? Am I still liable? Will it follow me here when I go to register my first Ontario plates/driver's license in 2013? Anyone have any insight into that?
ANOTHER ANOTHER EDIT: Oh God, did someone pay this for me?
Dare I be so optimistic?
I'm not sure what to say, but if any good samaritan out there has actually had the kindness to pay my ticket for me, you have left me almost completely speechless. I feel like saying "thank you" would be such a trifle, and would not do justice to the humility and gratitude I feel toward you. Nevertheless, thank you. I feel incredibly humbled, and the first thing I am going to do is pass this good deed along to someone else as soon as possible. Sometimes I forget how selfless and kind people can be. I wish I could somehow repay you, kind person. I feel so flustered and emotional (and undeserving of this) that I'm going to stop typing before I say something silly(er).
Posted Mar 25, 2012, 2:24 AM UTC · edited