DC Parking ticket issued 2 hours later...

[justdroppingby]

Hello,
I recently got a parking ticket on 24th street in Washington DC. I fed the meter around 7:15 to get me parking until 9. I came back out at 9am, and the meter was expired, but, lucky me - there was no ticket on my windshield. I fed the meter for another two hours and went back inside.
Upon returning to my car around 10:45, I saw that I still had several minutes on the meter, but now there was a parking ticket on my windshield. I was POSITIVE it had not been there before, and I was right! The ticket was for an expired meter "Observed time: 08:30am" BUT it was issued 2 FULL HOURS later (10:32am). This is all clearly shown on the ticket.

I do not dispute that it's possible the meter was expired at 8:30. But what if I had come out at 9:00, and driven away? Would I have been super-lucky and not have been ticketed? Or would I just not have PHYSICALLY gotten the ticket, but still had it on record (and possibly gotten towed at a later date for an unpaid ticket I never knew existed)?

I don't understand how I can be ticketed so far AFTER the 'violation'. It seems VERY arbitrary and unfair. There's no way they can uniformly enforce this kind of ticketing. If I fight it, do I have a case?

[FlyingRon]

Whats not to understand. There's nothing that says they have to ticket you immediately. If you'd have drive off, they'd have mailed you the ticket.

By the way, a two hour meter means you can only park there for two hours no matter how many coins you put in it.

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by justdroppingby

Hello,
I recently got a parking ticket on 24th street in Washington DC. I fed the meter around 7:15 to get me parking until 9. I came back out at 9am, and the meter was expired, but, lucky me - there was no ticket on my windshield. I fed the meter for another two hours and went back inside.
Upon returning to my car around 10:45, I saw that I still had several minutes on the meter, but now there was a parking ticket on my windshield. I was POSITIVE it had not been there before, and I was right! The ticket was for an expired meter "Observed time: 08:30am" BUT it was issued 2 FULL HOURS later (10:32am). This is all clearly shown on the ticket.

I do not dispute that it's possible the meter was expired at 8:30. But what if I had come out at 9:00, and driven away? Would I have been super-lucky and not have been ticketed? Or would I just not have PHYSICALLY gotten the ticket, but still had it on record (and possibly gotten towed at a later date for an unpaid ticket I never knew existed)?

I don't understand how I can be ticketed so far AFTER the 'violation'. It seems VERY arbitrary and unfair. There's no way they can uniformly enforce this kind of ticketing. If I fight it, do I have a case?

Based on only what you have posted: No.

[justdroppingby]

Right on, guys. Thanks for getting back to me. I didn't consider that they would have mailed the ticket. But that obviously makes sense.
And thanks for pointing out the 2-hour thing. That's not as obvious as you might think.
Anyway... always looking for a way out of a ticket. Had to ask. But you saved me a good deal of time. I'll just pay it... it's only $25.