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A Tuesday night CBS 2 News report that featured LAist (they described as "a Web site where people vent about issues like parking tickets," and pronounced us as LA-List, hehe) exposed the hundreds of thousands of tickets that drivers have fought and won. In total, over a two and a half year period, they found that more than 124,000 tickets were overturned.
An acceptable level of overturned tickets for a parking enforcement officer is 3%, but the station found over 175 officers over that level, said CBS. Here are just a few:
- Officer Parrish wrote 5,143 tickets and had 604, or 11.7%, overturned.
- Officer Barbre wrote 13,807 tickets and had 1,040, or 7.5%, overturned.
- Officer Namoko in the Hollywood area wrote the most, 20,346 tickets and had 5.5%, or 598 overturned.
When reporter David Goldstein asked LADOT Chief Jimmy Price if people out there are getting tickets that shouldn't be, he said "no... not to the best of my knowledge." Apparently, his officers are perfect. Price says many overturned tickets written were valid, but are of a fix-it nature like expired license plate tags.
Still, we're sure LAist readers out there have plenty of stories where they believe they were ticketed in error.
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I'm pretty sure that if you contest a ticket but the cop doesn't show up, it's ruled in your favor and overturned, regardless of whether it was a valid ticket. It would be interesting to see how many of the overturns were due to that, rather than just being wrong.
Just an FYI to everyone, parking enforcement officers, despite the "officer" nomenclature, are not police, but civilians working under the auspices of the LA Department of Transportation. It's can be confusing, but that's what it is.
Also, contesting a parking ticket is a two letters back and forth and then an appearing before an administrator. Officers do not have to show up.
Hope that clears up any misconceptions!
Oh. We're just talking about parking tickets. Nevermind :P
The math on Officer Namoko in Hollywood is a bit squirrely. 5.5% of 20346 would be 1119, while 598 out of 20346 would be 2.9%. One of those numbers has to be wrong.
The question is, what are the most common violations that are being overturned, and why? What arguments are the cited using to convince the administrator? Which parking citations can we fight, and how do we win?
I fought and won on a parking ticket that I got on the company vehicle which has commercial license plates. I was ticketed while in loading zone which was painted yellow and stenciled "30 minute loading zone".
I took pictures of the loading zone, the near by parking restriction signs, made a photocopy of the citation, wrote a letter explaining why I thought the ticket was issued in error, and wrote a check for the amount of the citation.
It took 18 months, but I eventually got my money back.
It's def worth fighting a ticket if you think you have a valid reason for fighting it.
Lately I've noticed these parking enforcement dickwads checking parked cars' license plates and writing tickets for expired tags. Is this not outta bounds? I thought they had to catch you OPERATING the vehicle w/ an expired tag?
I'm pretty sure if it's in a "public place" like a street, it's assumed you are operating it. After all, you have to move the car off the street for things like street sweeping, etc. Technically, if you aren't operating a car, it still has to be registered, albeit at a reduced rate and without proof of insurance. Usually, however, they nail you for expired tags if you're already doing something wrong (such as if you don't move your car off the street for street sweeping). They must just be desperate for money.
oh I've caught a "charming" parking enforcement officer writing me a ticket once with 5 minutes left on the meter. As soon as I confronted her she immediately stopped, got into her car and drove away, refusing to identify herself or answer questions. I had written down her car number but misplaced it unfortunately. I have absolutely no respect for these people.
I parked at a broken meter once in Sherman Oaks, came back 5 minutes later, and had a ticket. I called about it and they said not to pay it and they would "look into it." This was in November and I haven't heard anything since.
I got a ticket for expired tags at the same time, even though I had sent in my payment (and had my check cashed) to renew my tags in JULY and then sent another form claiming I never received them in September. And three days later, my tags mysterious showed up, so I just needed to pay $10 and send a copy of my registration.
You can't park at broken meters.
Yes you can parked a broken meters. But the trick is, if it fixes itself or is fixed while you're parked there, you risk getting ticketed.
Zach is right about it being a two letter back and forth process.
I parked at a meter that was labeled "FAIL," but when I came back, the meter was fixed and I had a a ticket. I contested it, but heard back that it was a valid ticket and could only contest with a hearing by mail. After jumping through a few more hoops and pre-paying the $45, I did just that and my ticket was overturned. $45 back my way - boo yes!
Matt! This exact same thing just happened to me. I contested it online, and they wrote back and said that the meter had "no history" of problems reported, and that the citation was valid. I was just going to say screw it and pay the damn thing, but now that I hear you won, I'll try again. Thanks!
My tenant parking space is located in the alley street next to our building.
I came home one night to find someone had parked in my space so I blocked them in and went inside to called parking control. I told them that I wanted it ticketed before having it towed.
While I was still on the phone with the towing company, parking control shows up and begins ticketing my car for "standing in an alley". I tell the officer that I was the one who called in the violation but he refuses to void it and basically shrugs his shoulders and says "oh well".
I fought that ticket through every channel for months, even bringing in supportive photos of the scofflaws car with mine parked behind it along with a copy of the towing order AND a DWP bill showing I lived there.
Sons of bitches STILL wouldn't void it.
Calling our parking enforcement corrupt is an understatement. At least the mafia provides services for stripping your pockets clean.
Wow THAT is messed up.
I fought and won on a parking ticket that I got on the company vehicle which has commercial license plates. I was ticketed while in loading zone which was painted yellow and stenciled "30 minute loading zone".
I took pictures of the loading zone, the near by parking restriction signs, made a photocopy of the citation, wrote a letter explaining why I thought the ticket was issued in error, and wrote a check for the amount of the citation.
It took 18 months, but I eventually got my money back.
It's def worth fighting a ticket if you think you have a valid reason for fighting it.
Sorry about the double comment, got an erroe message and didn't think it went through.
I fought a parking ticket once and WON.
They didn't have a leg to stand on. I got a ticket for parking in a school zone during school hours in July. I checked the elementary school's website just to make sure it didn't have a camp or a summer school. It didn't. It took a month of whining, but it was totally worth not paying $78.
what about traffic violations? because i really want to contest the "unsafe lane change" ticket i got from an ahole cop, but i'm afraid i'll lose. anyone know the stats on how often cops show up?
Traffic officers get paid to show up in court so they will more than likely be there.
When I contest my violations I always as for an extension so I have a time to gather all the factual documentation needed and then contest my violation via mail. If I lose, I'll request for a in-person trial.