excuses for parking fines ? Did you write in ? Did they waive the fee ?

I started as a " meter maid" on our police department 34 years ago. Back then, the fine was 50 cents. People came very close to hurting you over a 50 cent ticket back then. All the "new" Police had to have that job for awhile. Takes the "John Wayne starch" out of you real quick. Makes you learn how to "interact" with the public.

I got to where, I was pretty generous with letting people off. Now the fines are something like 10 bucks for the first day and goes up from there. No one seems to get mad about it like they used to. I still think they ought to make all the "new" Police do this job for awhile and get their heads out of the clouds a bit.

Just a way for cities to make money and they usually pay several employees( meter maid included) out of the fines.Doesn't mean I like it so I just don't park over-time downtown. Parking meters just about killed our downtown area at one time.

I think the public health trusts which run most of our hospitals should be disbanded and hospitals put back under the care of people who are more interested in working with people rather than line their own pockets! Our local hospital is way out of town, has only one bus every half hour going up to it but this is often an old style bus which cannot be used by those who are not easily mobile. There are very few disabled parking spaces and even the disabled have to pay if they have to use a normal parking space - which is not the case in normal car parks. The parking for the consultants and Trust administrators is right by the entrance to the hospital, the other car parks are a good 5 minute walk - another case of the healthy being put ahead of those for whom they are working. Without the ill, they would not have a job. But it is not only parking. To watch television costs around £15 a week. A phone call from the hospital pay phone is about 40p a minute. For relatives phoning up to enquire about a patient, the charge is at least 40p a minute. Going into hospital is soon become a facility for the rich. The treatment may be free but getting there etc. is going to be out of the reach of many.

In Burbank Ca they have street cleaning and one side of your street will be cleaned on one day of the week and then the other on another day. This means you can't park on that side of the street from 7am to 10 am, they don't care if you have a permit or not. I got them to waive my fine once because we had just moved into the area that week. It was always a pain to be sure the cars were in the right place, but it was nice the kept their city so nice and clean.

I parked outside my house on my own forecourt and got a ticket, I was only there for four minutes I don't know how the Warden wrote the ticket and disappeared so quickly, but I wrote to the Council and pointed out that it was my own forecourt and they did cancel the fine thank goodness.As an old age pensioner I can do without the hassle.

My brother, an amputee, got a ticket for for parking in a handicapped spot because of ticket-writer ineptitude. He had to go to court, parked in the court's handicapped-parking spot, and (you can see this coming, can't you?) had to take the HP plate in to show the court. They waived his fine, but while that was happening he got another ticket.

About the best excuse that I can think of is telling then where I am from and how long it has been since I have been to town. I suspect that they recognize the futility of the matter and they just don't want it on their books.