Late fee for parking ticket I never received

[Anonymous]

First off, I'll admit I was in the wrong at first, but let me know if you would bother contesting this parking ticket in court:

So I pull up to a metered parking spot to pick up a call-in order. I was there for a total of five minutes (really), so I figured not to bother paying the meter. I'd be in and out, so I figured it was worth the gamble (honestly pure laziness on my part, I didn't feel like logging into my app and punching in the code. I was literally just going to be in and out). When I got out of the store, I noticed parking enforcement around, but no ticket on my car, so I figured I was in the clear. I probably wouldn't have done that again, but I figured they allowed a 15 minute grace period or something, so I left.

Then the other day I get a notice in the mail saying that I not only had a parking citation, but owed a late fee. I called the department and gave them the citation number and the lady said "Unfortunately, the officer's statement says here that you drove away before they could hand you the citation."
Seriously?

I explained to the lady that the parking enforcers made no attempt to hand me a ticket. She said "It's their word against yours and you'd have to take it to court."

This just seems like a total scam. In the five minutes I was parked illegally, the guys had time to write me up and submit it into the system, but not place an actual ticket on the windshield. Nor did they attempt to flag me down... No "Ma'am..." or "Excuse me" or physical attempt to get between me and the car and hand a ticket over. I had only noticed them hanging around and that's it. I figured they were just checking the meter. What was I supposed to do, go over and ask "Hey, got any tickets for me?" So they saw me and KNEW that if I had no physical notice of a citation they could charge me double. And of course, they don't send them by mail either, until the late fee.

So, should I contest this? WWYD?

[Anonymous]

What jurisdiction? Can you do an online adjudication?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First off, I'll admit I was in the wrong at first, but let me know if you would bother contesting this parking ticket in court:

So I pull up to a metered parking spot to pick up a call-in order. I was there for a total of five minutes (really), so I figured not to bother paying the meter. I'd be in and out, so I figured it was worth the gamble (honestly pure laziness on my part, I didn't feel like logging into my app and punching in the code. I was literally just going to be in and out). When I got out of the store, I noticed parking enforcement around, but no ticket on my car, so I figured I was in the clear. I probably wouldn't have done that again, but I figured they allowed a 15 minute grace period or something, so I left.

Then the other day I get a notice in the mail saying that I not only had a parking citation, but owed a late fee. I called the department and gave them the citation number and the lady said "Unfortunately, the officer's statement says here that you drove away before they could hand you the citation."
Seriously?

I explained to the lady that the parking enforcers made no attempt to hand me a ticket. She said "It's their word against yours and you'd have to take it to court."

This just seems like a total scam. In the five minutes I was parked illegally, the guys had time to write me up and submit it into the system, but not place an actual ticket on the windshield. Nor did they attempt to flag me down... No "Ma'am..." or "Excuse me" or physical attempt to get between me and the car and hand a ticket over. I had only noticed them hanging around and that's it. I figured they were just checking the meter. What was I supposed to do, go over and ask "Hey, got any tickets for me?" So they saw me and KNEW that if I had no physical notice of a citation they could charge me double. And of course, they don't send them by mail either, until the late fee.

So, should I contest this? WWYD?

I would contest

[Anonymous]

Parking enforcement around? They stand adjacent to your vehicle while inputting the ticket info. Pay it. Don’t drive away next time. Lesson learned. Sign up online for ticket notification in DC.

[Anonymous]

Contest it

[Anonymous]

I don’t believe your story. I actually just ran it by a friend of mine who works in parking enforcement. In your situation the ticket would have been voided. Do either tell the whole truth without omitting anything or go away.

[Anonymous]

I would pay the ticket but contest the penalty. You probably did drive away. 15 minute grace period?? Come on.

[Anonymous]

I had several tickets in DC where I never received the ticket, and only found out about them when I got the late notice. However in all those cases I could show the tickets were wrong so I just submitted the dispute form and got both the ticket and late fee dismissed.