As I have mentioned before, I generally do not take kindly to citizens using someone’s death as an excuse for getting a parking ticket when said death had no actual bearing on the events surrounding the ticket. After this next case, I can safely say that I extend this dislike to those who using impending death as an excuse. A gentleman wrote in to contest a parking ticket he had received for parking at an expired meter. He explained that he had taken his disabled father to the hospital, dropped him off at the main entrance, and then proceeded to park the vehicle around the corner at a meter. He did not put money in the meter, but also did not hang his father’s disabled person placard upon the vehicle’s rearview mirror (in this jurisdiction, you can park at a meter without paying if you have a valid disabled person placard). The man stated that he simply forgot to put the placard on the mirror because he was in such a hurry to join his sick, terminally ill father in the hospital. He ended his written statement with one of the most preposterous lines I have ever read:
So admittedly, I was in error, however, as stated already, I am asking for a merciful exception. I can afford the [amount] and it was definitely my mistake, but my father is now moved in with us here in [redacted] and with only weeks left to live, I really don’t want one of my last memories of him to be this parking ticket.
What a jerk! His father is (allegedly) dying, and he sees it as an opportunity to get out of a parking ticket. There was no doubt that he was not getting a refund of any kind, but at this point I had a choice. Do I righteously berate him for using his father’s impending demise as an excuse, or do I merely stick to the law without emotion? I chose the latter.
Finding of Facts: Respondent misunderstands the nature of disabled person placard usage. The moment Respondent dropped his father off at the hospital’s entrance, Respondent forfeited the right to use his father’s disabled person placard. Since Respondent parked the vehicle without his father being in the vehicle, Respondent was not allowed to validly use his father’s placard rather than put money into the parking meter. Even if Respondent had remembered to properly display the placard, Respondent would have been breaking the law. I therefore find Respondent Liable for this citation.
I do not wish ill on anyone, but if this parking ticket is going to be “one of [his] last memories” of his father, he has only himself to blame. Anyway, what do you think? Did I get it right?
