In SF, can you get two parking tickets for a single violation?
Asked by
nickbaum (
49
)
February 15th, 2009
I parked my car on a hill and turned my wheels the wrong way (doh!). Two days later, I came back and found two $45 parking tickets, given on separate days. Can I contest the second one? Shouldn’t they only give one ticket, given that it was a single violation?
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8 Answers
Well, maybe they just don’t like you.
I don’t think so. Granted, I can’t drive, nor do I live in SF, but i doesn’t seem like that makes sense. Either they should give you one 90$ one, or one 45$ one.
Either way, it can’t hurt to call them and ask…
yip, different day, different ticket. Funny, they’re more adamant about the wheels in the right direction than they are about speeding.
But then, you wouldn’t want a stray car running down California Ave. ;)
The logic behind the whole thing is that after more than 24hrs you can’t determine if you’ve been parked there overnight, or left and returned.
Of course they can give you multiple tickets for the same violation!
How do you think the city government makes all its money?!?
You could get even more, but I imagine they would eventually tow your car, of course it never hurts to argue your point, you don’t ask, you don’t get.
That sucks, Nick. I guess their logic is that you could just keep a ticket on your car to avoid further tickets. I would call to inquire, as @dverhey suggested, and fight it if you don’t get a clear answer. My dad recently fought a ticket he got when he was visiting SF (the curb was yellow, but there was a meter there). He won, and was reimbursed. Good luck!
Great, thanks for the answers folks! My sense is that I don’t have much legal ground to stand on, but it might be worth contesting just in case they let it slip by. As you say, it’s worth a try.
Anybody can contest a ticket and I hear you have a pretty good chance of winning. However it takes almost a full day in a place that most closely resembles Ellis Island at it’s peak. The building is in a bleak area south of Market with only limited short-term parking. So you can take a day off, to sit for hours in a hard chair in a dismal room and run the risk of getting another parking ticket just to save $45. I know, it’s the principle,
Hm. All I know is my dad lives in Chicago, contested it in writing, and won. Maybe you don’t have to go through all that – I hope you wouldn’t have to.
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