Parking ticket in unmarked area.

Virginia

I hope that you would be so generous to answer one question. I have been parking in a commuter lot on a curb where there is no yellow curb nor a No Parking sign. There are no signs around or in the parking lot that state any parking restrictions. I am also not obstructing the flow of traffic. According to DMVs laws I am not illegally parked. Suddenly I (along with others parked here) am ticketed even though parking on this curb has gone on for the past several years. Is this legal? I thought that if enforcement was not enforced to begin with that it could not suddenly be enforced, especially in this manner.

I thought that if enforcement was not enforced to begin with that it could not suddenly be enforced, especially in this manner.

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Does this statement reflect that you knew not to park there?

Under normal circumstances...

No. Under normal circumstances, I would gladly have parked in a regular spot. This is the Horner Road lot. It gets so filled up that people are forced to park in any spot possible as long as it is 'legal'. It has been a spot used for parking for quite some time by many users of the lot. There were people who were parked in the grass and I did not see tickets on their cars. I was parked along an unmarked curb and I was not obstructing traffic.

Failure to cite for the violation in the past is not a defense. And nobody is under any obligation to issue warning notices prior to enforcement. It might have been nice had the offense been permitted for so long, but I doubt there is any legal obligation to do so.

And I recall once when I contacted a kid (18 years old) who parked on a sidewalk in front of a liquor store ... he had pulled up via the alley driveway adjacent to the business. When I asked him why he thought he could park ON the sidewalk in front of the store he replied - completely serious: "There's no sign saying I can't."

Its likely that the rules or regulations in the lot or municipality mandate that parking must be done in the designated spaces. If that's the case, you may be able to argue that you were not aware of the law. However, I doubt that will fly too well.

It might be cheaper and less of a pain to just pay the parking cite.

Carl

ivan_rob333 said:

Virginia

I hope that you would be so generous to answer one question. I have been parking in a commuter lot on a curb where there is no yellow curb nor a No Parking sign. There are no signs around or in the parking lot that state any parking restrictions. I am also not obstructing the flow of traffic. According to DMVs laws I am legally parked. Suddenly I (along with others parked here) am ticketed even though parking on this curb has gone on for the past several years. Is this legal? I thought that if enforcement was not enforced to begin with that it could not suddenly be enforced, especially in this manner.

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**A: something does not make sense. If you were legally parked, why did you get a ticket? I say you were not legally parked.

HG-Get with the times, evidently the conspiracy to ticket the undeserving by law enforcement has been uncovered.

Correction

I have modified the original message. I meant to say that I believe that I was not Illegally parked.

CDW --Parking on a sidewalk is quite different than parking along a curb. A sidewalk is where pedestrians walk. There are many areas in this parking lot which are clearly not designated parking spots but people have been permitted to park there and not get ticketed. You might be right though. It might be better to just pay the fine. Thanks for your comment.

dequeendistress said:

HG-Get with the times, evidently the conspiracy to ticket the undeserving by law enforcement has been uncovered.

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**A: just because I live in a cave high up on the mountain does not give you the right to say "get with the times" to me.

ivan_rob333 said:

I have modified the original message. I meant to say that I believe that I was not Illegally parked. Parking on a sidewalk is quite different than parking along a curb. A sidewalk is where pedestrians walk. There are many areas in this parking lot which are clearly not designated parking spots but people have been permitted to park there and not get ticketed. You might be right though. It might be better to just pay the fine.

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**A: now your post makes more sense.

ivan_rob333 said:

I have modified the original message. I meant to say that I believe that I was not Illegally parked.

CDW --Parking on a sidewalk is quite different than parking along a curb. A sidewalk is where pedestrians walk. There are many areas in this parking lot which are clearly not designated parking spots but people have been permitted to park there and not get ticketed. You might be right though. It might be better to just pay the fine. Thanks for your comment.

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My point - perhaps poorly illustrated - was that even though it is not marked, it can still be against the law. The same may be true of where you parked.

Carl