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I ticketed a car parked in a handicap space. The signs look like this and each sign points to a space on either side of it. The spaces also have blue handicap symbols painted on them. This car was parked in the very last space in one of these groups of handicap spaces; so to the left of the last sign (the signs are double-sided and represented by the red squares)
I double-checked the ground and her car was parked over the handicap symbol. She came to the office later and I had to explain why she got the ticket; she admitted she didn't have a handicap permit. She argued she didn't mean to do it, it didn't look like a handicap space, if she was going to do it on purpose wouldn't she take a space up-front, etc. I explained I couldn't take the ticket back (as an officer had just picked-up our halves about 20 min ago) and that I wasn't judging that she had or hadn't done it on purpose, but she was parked there and I had to ticket her.
About 20 minutes later I get a call from the police station. She drove over there to dispute the ticket I won't take back. The officer hadn't even arrived with the tickets yet, so hers isn't in the computer and they tell her they won't take it back anyway. She insists she wants a police officer to come with her and talk with me! So they send one over. I show him exactly where she parked. Her argument began changing from she didn't park there on purpose to "well it doesn't LOOK like a handicap space. Now every-other word out of her mouth is "I'm not calling you a liar..." "Now I'm not saying you're lying..." She now tells us that she is CERTAIN that she was not in the space I said she was! Now I had a lady do this before, but she actually moved her car to a non handicap space and THEN insisted she'd been there the whole time. But I know what spot this lady was parked in. The store who's lot this was was even nice enough to check video footage for us, but the area she parked was juuuust out of camera view. The police officer explained to her that she could fight it in court. She became pouty that we weren't going to take the ticket back; I think she'd been on her high horse thinking the police were going to side with her over a lowly mall cop; but my ticket record has been spotless for over the last year with me winning every case. She stomped back to her car without another word and left.
So, we'll see if I get to go to court about it. I am 100 percent sure she was in the wrong because I SAW that marking under her car. But these spots are the ones people argue about the most, so I might photograph the cars I ticket here so I can prove that they were parked 1-spot closer than they might have thought they were.
I double-checked the ground and her car was parked over the handicap symbol. She came to the office later and I had to explain why she got the ticket; she admitted she didn't have a handicap permit. She argued she didn't mean to do it, it didn't look like a handicap space, if she was going to do it on purpose wouldn't she take a space up-front, etc. I explained I couldn't take the ticket back (as an officer had just picked-up our halves about 20 min ago) and that I wasn't judging that she had or hadn't done it on purpose, but she was parked there and I had to ticket her.
About 20 minutes later I get a call from the police station. She drove over there to dispute the ticket I won't take back. The officer hadn't even arrived with the tickets yet, so hers isn't in the computer and they tell her they won't take it back anyway. She insists she wants a police officer to come with her and talk with me! So they send one over. I show him exactly where she parked. Her argument began changing from she didn't park there on purpose to "well it doesn't LOOK like a handicap space. Now every-other word out of her mouth is "I'm not calling you a liar..." "Now I'm not saying you're lying..." She now tells us that she is CERTAIN that she was not in the space I said she was! Now I had a lady do this before, but she actually moved her car to a non handicap space and THEN insisted she'd been there the whole time. But I know what spot this lady was parked in. The store who's lot this was was even nice enough to check video footage for us, but the area she parked was juuuust out of camera view. The police officer explained to her that she could fight it in court. She became pouty that we weren't going to take the ticket back; I think she'd been on her high horse thinking the police were going to side with her over a lowly mall cop; but my ticket record has been spotless for over the last year with me winning every case. She stomped back to her car without another word and left.
So, we'll see if I get to go to court about it. I am 100 percent sure she was in the wrong because I SAW that marking under her car. But these spots are the ones people argue about the most, so I might photograph the cars I ticket here so I can prove that they were parked 1-spot closer than they might have thought they were.
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