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View Full Version : Anyone here get a parking ticket that wasnt theres?



Craig D Peltier
02-11-2010, 7:21 PM
Long story shortened.

Got notified I have 11 tickets in California in a Saab from Nevada with my old address in California.Tickets were given in 2005 and 2006 in LA. I did live there at this time.

I wrote short note to Parking Bureau ( per there advice) stating the plate number and all my personal info stating I never owned this vehicle. Today I got 13 letters stating I was guilty for all of them. What gets me really toasted is the letter states after investigation with DMV an any correspondence I sent I am guilty.
I can request a (mail) hearing but I have to pay in full all tickets in order for it to be granted. I called DMV in California they cant even look up a plate for NV but looked at my old address an nothing was linked.So I called Nevada an the car was never registered in my name and it was only registered there in 05 and 06 when I got tickets.
So im upset that basically the parking bureau lied or is lazy because two calls to DMVs an nothing links me to that car.
So I asked Parking bureau what other answers I can get besides pay and they said a supervisor can call 24-48hours.

Anyone have any advice here? :mad:

I will be back in California from time to time.I can' t just ignore. Plus there's a collection agency calling.

Jim O'Dell
02-11-2010, 7:52 PM
Know a lawyer you can ask for some advice? Maybe California is getting more desperate for money than anyone thought.:rolleyes: But that is weird. If they can't connect you to the car, why do they think it was you? Do they have any of this information linked to your driver's license? If so, contact your local State Trooper's office. I had a situation back in the late 90s where someone got my SS#, made checks with my name on their computer using a fake DL# from Oklahoma (this is back when OK was still using your SS# for their DL#s. I understand they have changed that now.) and buying stuff at a WalMart in East Texas. The bank routing numbers were fake too, so no money ever left my account. But I had a heck of a time getting it straightened out. I even had an arrest warrant out for me in Arkansas over it. The local DA said WalMart had to file on me before he could help. WalMart insisted on investigating it on their own and refused to file, even when I asked them to.:confused: My guess is it was an inside job and a teller was involved. DA said to send registered letters to the WalMart requesting they file, and get their written decline. I did so, then went to the State Troopers with my story. One trooper took my correspondence to the back, was gone about 20-30 minutes, came back and said they were giving me a new DL#, and with my permission, would keep the old one active, but change the address to their office in hopes that they could catch up with who was doing it. I never heard if they did or not, but my problems seemed to end. Not sure about the arrest warrant in AR though. :D
Good luck with your problem. Jim.

Craig D Peltier
02-11-2010, 8:04 PM
Im not sure if my old DL is linked. Parking supervisor just called from LA , that was a very short 24-48 hours. Said she will escalate the problem. What BS! I told her im friends with Arnie and I will be back! So stop screwing with me and get off there lazy butts and make the calls.:D

Dave Schreib
02-11-2010, 9:07 PM
Consider trying either your WA congressperson or your CA congressperson? If not congressman, maybe state legislator. They have staff who can make the state agencies get their heads out of their butts.

Joe Pelonio
02-11-2010, 11:22 PM
Hi Craig,

Having spent many hours at the DMV in CA when we lived there, this doesn't surprise me at all. They were the very definition of incompetence and apparently have not improved since we left in 1993.

If it were not for the return trips in which you may be driving there with warrants I'd just suggest ignoring it. The burden of proof is on them, if the car was not registered in your name then they really cannot do anything but you could still have a hassle. You should not have to spend money to handle it, though, since they messed up, so I'd try to find a lawyer willing to sue them for harassing you.

I do have a good friend who's a municipal court judge in CA, but it's in the Bay area.

Scott T Smith
02-11-2010, 11:51 PM
One thing to do is to notify the collection agency, in writing via certified letter, that they debt is not valid and disputed. Do this ASAP, as it requires them to back off and not make further collection attempts until they can positively verify that the debt is valid.

Colin Giersberg
02-12-2010, 12:07 AM
While I have never had one, there is a guy in Huntsville, Alabama (about 20 miles away from me) that has received multiple parking tickets in Birmingham, Alabama. He has never been there other than just passing through. The reason: he has a vanity plate that has the same letters on it that Birmingham uses as a code when they write a parking ticket. I believe he currently has over twenty tickets according to the local TV station, but that was several weeks ago, so he may have more now. I don't know what the outcome is, so time will tell what happens.
I hope you get your situation resolved soon.

Regards, Colin

Stephen Tashiro
02-12-2010, 1:12 AM
An interesting fact about my location is that the ordinance that requires that a vehicle have an up to date registration states that this is the car owners responsibility. But police who stop cars for out of date registrations give a ticket to the driver even if he is not the owner.

Jim Koepke
02-12-2010, 3:11 AM
Is it possible someone is using your identity to register their car and that is why the tickets are coming to you?

jim

Randal Stevenson
02-12-2010, 10:27 AM
My brother was never in the state that sent him a ticket. It wasn't pretty. He ended up with an affidavit from his employer (IRS), and a lawyer to get it straightened out.

In the end on him, someone transcribed one digit wrong from the ticket to the legal stuff.

Bob Borzelleri
02-12-2010, 11:02 AM
In 2005, we donated Deb's car to the local public radio station. Three months later, we got notices from the City of San Diego that we had overdue parking tickets.

While not speculating on the specifics surrounding the manner in which our formerly owned car got to San Diego and how and where it parked itself, I wrote a letter to the parking folks in San Diego and documented that the car was not mine at the time of the offenses.

Not knowing which jurisdiction(s) are at issue for you (hopefully, just one), it would appear that the starting point would be a registered letter to both the local parking folks with a copy to DMV (both California as well as Nevada). In addition, the California DMV (asuming that they are the folks that the local jurisdiction will look to for verification of ownership) has an administrative appeal process. I don't know the specific provisions for formal appeal without being present, but given that the entire record for who owned what car at which time is within their control, I would push for DMV to conduct the record review for the appeal in lue of your being present. The notion that California DMV has no ability to obtain ownership records from Nevada is without merit. I used to supervise enforcement folks who regularly obtained truck license records for hazardous waste haulers from all manner of states around the country. The mechanisms are well established.

If you have a friend who is an attorney who would be willing to author the letter for you while citing the statutory provisions for the the administrative appeal process, that would probably help.

Most likely, the reason you are being required to pay up front is the passage of time. Assuming that you had no way of knowing that these tickets existed prior to a recent notice followed by this flood of letters, your letter should include a request for a stay of the penalties pending resolution of the ownership question. In essence, you can't be expected to resolve issues that you have no knowledge of.

Lee Schierer
02-12-2010, 11:49 AM
With that many open citations, I wouldn't visit California any time soon.:eek:


Get a lawyer involved.

Steve Peterson
02-12-2010, 2:02 PM
I can vouch for the incompetence of the CA DMV. About 3 years ago, they wouldn't re-register my car because they said they had no proof of certain recall work getting completed. The thing was, they could not tell me what the recall work number was that did not get completed. They just knew that it wasn't done. I had letters from the dealer stating that ALL recall work had been completed. DMV still insisted that additional work was required, but could not identify what that additional work was.

It took about a dozen phone calls and escalation up the management chain before someone finally aggreed to send me the registration tags.

Steve

John Coloccia
02-12-2010, 3:02 PM
In 2005, we donated Deb's car to the local public radio station. Three months later, we got notices from the City of San Diego that we had overdue parking tickets.

While not speculating on the specifics surrounding the manner in which our formerly owned car got to San Diego and how and where it parked itself, I wrote a letter to the parking folks in San Diego and documented that the car was not mine at the time of the offenses.

Not knowing which jurisdiction(s) are at issue for you (hopefully, just one), it would appear that the starting point would be a registered letter to both the local parking folks with a copy to DMV (both California as well as Nevada). In addition, the California DMV (asuming that they are the folks that the local jurisdiction will look to for verification of ownership) has an administrative appeal process. I don't know the specific provisions for formal appeal without being present, but given that the entire record for who owned what car at which time is within their control, I would push for DMV to conduct the record review for the appeal in lue of your being present. The notion that California DMV has no ability to obtain ownership records from Nevada is without merit. I used to supervise enforcement folks who regularly obtained truck license records for hazardous waste haulers from all manner of states around the country. The mechanisms are well established.

If you have a friend who is an attorney who would be willing to author the letter for you while citing the statutory provisions for the the administrative appeal process, that would probably help.

Most likely, the reason you are being required to pay up front is the passage of time. Assuming that you had no way of knowing that these tickets existed prior to a recent notice followed by this flood of letters, your letter should include a request for a stay of the penalties pending resolution of the ownership question. In essence, you can't be expected to resolve issues that you have no knowledge of.


I had the same thing happen when I donated my Durango in California. I have to say that it only took a couple of phone calls to straighten it out. I didn't even have to write a letter.

A lot of these departments are overwhelmed, but generally I've found that they really want to do the right thing but have their hands tied. Politely working your way up the chain to the guy that can make a decision makes all the difference in the world. They're not looking for trouble. They just want to clear their books, and you're making it easier for them by directing them to find their mistake and get to the person that's actually going to pay.

Bryan Morgan
02-12-2010, 3:11 PM
I thought it was innocent until proven guilty? Have they actually proven you are guilty?

Craig D Peltier
02-12-2010, 5:16 PM
Well im just waiting on the LA imcompetent parking bureau to get back to me after they escalated the issue.
I will write back what thye say.
Thanks for all the info and other wild stories.

Dick Strauss
02-13-2010, 12:12 PM
Alright Craig,
You need a good laugh...

My mom traded in her old station wagon for a new car. Several weeks later the FBI showed up at her shop. They wanted to question her about a bank robbery. She was really confused and obviously didn't know what they were talking about. The FBI kept insisiting that she come clean and admit she was involved:eek:!

It turns out that the old station wagon was stolen from the dealership and later used in a bank robbery. It was identified by the license plate number (since plates stay with the car in CA). The dealer never transferred the title with the CA DMV to save a few $$$, so it was still registered to her. Thankfully she had the paperwork showing her new car purchase with wagon trade-in and could verify that she was at work at her second job at the time of the robbery.