What follows are excerpts from parking ticket appeals letters filed with the New Canaan Parking Bureau. Where available, we’ve included information on the violation for which these people were cited, in what amount, and where and when the violation occurred.
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“I did not get a ticket or receipt—the word receipt never appears on the machine front. [The manager] at [an Elm Street business] was working with me in the store and she told me to move to the lot so I would not get ticketed on the street. So I got ticketed in the parking lot. I do not think the directions on the machine are clear to newcomers like me who have never seen one before.”
—$20 for unpaid space at 1:48 p.m. on Aug. 25 at Morse Court
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“I was seeing my doctor on Park Street and forgot to put in money. I am going into the hospital today, am very ill and would appreciate you waiving the fee.”
—$20 for unpaid space on Aug. 11 at Park Street Lot
An image of the car that parked in the crosswalk. This individual filed an appeal of the $75 ticket for parking in the crosswalk.
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“I would like to come in and please appeal my parking violation. I came as a visitor to shop and make a gift exchange for 3 ½ minutes and received a ticket.”
—$75 for parking in a crosswalk at 12:43 p.m. on July 14
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Another angle of this car that parked in the crosswalk.
“Attempted several times to use credit card but failed to get the space number. I was bringing my children to a [doctor] appointment in NYC. They will verify the doors on the train closed as I took so long trying to accomplish this. Luckily they reopened or I would have been left at the station with only a credit card.”
—$30 for unpaid space at 9:55 a.m. on Aug. 13 at Railroad Lot
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“I was parked on the right side of [Elm] Street in front of [a restaurant] for less than the allotted 90 minutes when I received a ticket. I was at lunch in another part of town until after 1 p.m.”
—$20 for overtime parking at 2:09 p.m. on Aug. 25 on Elm Street
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“I’m new to the area and I work at [a Pine Street store], the store I was parked in front of. There were no available spaces in our parking lot today so I had to park on the street to be able to work at my job. I will find somewhere else to park next time that that happens. I thought I could park there between 9 and 6.”
—$40 for overtime parking on Aug. 11 on Pine Street
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“Hello, I paid but still got a ticket. Please correct this.”
—$30 for unpaid space
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“I parked in front of the library (a familiar spot for me). I stayed four hours, never saw the 2-hour limit sign (my fault). But I received a $20 ticket plus a second violation ticket. I acknowledge I was careless but don’t think a second ticket was appropriate (I did not know this rule at all). Finally, I left the country on business right after ticketing, so I would appreciate it if you forego the late fee. I’m hoping $20 for the ticket will do?”
—$60 total for overtime parking on Main Street
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“I was paying my space while I got this ticket. Unfortunately, I was stuck behind an elderly person who did not know how to use the machine. Please excuse this ticket for me. The other machine was also in use.”
—$20 for unpaid space
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“I mistyped the spot number. On this particular day, the weather was extremely rainy and windy – which contributed to my mistake. I am hoping my ticket can be waived since I did pay for parking – 1 spot off.”
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“I received a ticket on my car in the Lumberyard parking lot even though I left the parking pass on my car. I pre-wrote my license plate number on the passes but I was rushing to the train and forgot to put the date on the pass. I called because the ticket was left with a fine and the parking pass was removed. The person I spoke with told me that the reason they take the pass and leave the ticket is because there are some people who will leave the pass on their car on purpose without a date. I was shocked to learn that this was happening. But I assure you that this was not the case in my situation. I am hoping that you will consider retracting this ticket as I get used to the pass situation. It will not happen again.”
—$30 for unpaid space at Lumberyard Lot
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“Ticket was issued at 9:27 a.m. Because the majority of businesses in town open at 10 a.m. and since the parking hours are not listed on the Morse Court/Main Street lot sign, it seems reasonable that the parking hours would start at 10 a.m., hence I did not put money in the meter. I had a 5-minute errand to the Post Office and knew I’d be back before what I thought was a 10 a.m. start time.”
—$20 for unpaid space in Morse Court
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“I received the enclosed ticket after seeing an afternoon movie at the theater on Elm Street. How is anyone supposed to see a movie and park at the same time? The movie was 2 hours long and the parking is only 90 minutes max? What was I supposed to do? Leave the theater before the end of the movie and feed the meter? This makes no sense. Then I dropped $150 at [an Elm Street restaurant] for lunch all the while angry looking at the enclosed ticket. Something makes no sense here. I can’t believe that I can’t see a movie and have lunch in New Canaan without getting slapped for an extra $40 parking ticket. Someone needs to explain this to me.”
—$20 for overtime parking
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“I received these tickets while paying at the meter. Thank you. Please keep in mind there is always a line! And elderly people can barely read it and always need assistance—maybe an additional machine would fix this issue. Noticed many people are also having this issue.”
—$40 in total fines for unpaid space
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“On the morning of 7/24/15 I parked on South Avenue, just beyond the driveway next to the candy store for literally 5 minutes as I ran into Breuggers to get my 6-year-old daughter a bagel. The sign directly in front of me clearly said ‘loading zone,’ however my understanding of the sign was that the driveway in front of the sign was the identified loading zone. I had parked on that section of South Avenue many times and did not think I was violating any parking restrictions.”
—$20 for loading zone on July 24 on South Avenue
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“When I parked my car in this parking spot I couldn’t see the sign which showed that this is a loading zone until 3 p.m., because there was a car parking in front of me. This also led me to the conclusion that it’ll be OK to park there. I also use this parking spot a lot just later in the day so I wasn’t worried that I would be in a wrong spot.”
—$20 for loading zone
I read your report with glee. You might want hold a contest each year and have folks vote on the stupidest; the most unbelievable; and the most arrrogaant.