Street Not legiable

What is the name of your state?NY, NYC->Queens



Well I got a ticket this morning because I parked 9 ft instead of 15ft from a fire hydrant.
Now I was wondering if I should fight the ticket, because the VIN # was not filled out, and the location where this took place is not legiable. It has a house address and the street number, but where it specifies whether it was a Street(st) Avenue(ave) or Lane(ln) or Place(pl), is not clear. There's a scribble.

Now if I send photo's of my car parked in front of the house, with the address showing, and than the same house with the street sign visible,

Would I have a chance of Winning my case, and should I proceed to fight the violation?

NYCitizen05 said:

What is the name of your state?NY, NYC->Queens



Well I got a ticket this morning because I parked 9 ft instead of 15ft from a fire hydrant.
Now I was wondering if I should fight the ticket, because the VIN # was not filled out, and the location where this took place is not legiable. It has a house address and the street number, but where it specifies whether it was a Street(st) Avenue(ave) or Lane(ln) or Place(pl), is not clear. There's a scribble.

Now if I send photo's of my car parked in front of the house, with the address showing, and than the same house with the street sign visible,

Would I have a chance of Winning my case, and should I proceed to fight the violation?

Click to expand...

Was this one of the new "computer-generated" tickets or the old orange-envelope handwritten ones?

Illegibility in and of itself is not a valid defense unless the license plate is completely unreadable. And the St/Ave/Pl distinction is not going to help either.

As far as pictures go, the PVB is very picky as to accepting pictures as evidence. You need a wide shot showing the street, with the street sign/name legibly in the photo. Subsequent photos need to contain landmarks or other major elements of the picture before it (to ensure they are all pictures of the same area). You get closer and closer to the infraction area, ending with a closeup of your license plate.

However, from your description, you were guilty of the infraction. Taking pictures of you parked too close to a hydrant ain't going to get you out of the ticket.

In fact, guess what happens if you park too close to the hydrant and there is a fire? This!

NYCitizen05 said:

What is the name of your state?NY, NYC->Queens



Well I got a ticket this morning because I parked 9 ft instead of 15ft from a fire hydrant.
Now I was wondering if I should fight the ticket, because the VIN # was not filled out, and the location where this took place is not legiable. It has a house address and the street number, but where it specifies whether it was a Street(st) Avenue(ave) or Lane(ln) or Place(pl), is not clear. There's a scribble.

Now if I send photo's of my car parked in front of the house, with the address showing, and than the same house with the street sign visible,

Would I have a chance of Winning my case, and should I proceed to fight the violation?

Click to expand...

JUDGE: And what do you plea?

YOU: Not Guilty.

JUDGE: (to officer) I notice you filled this ticket out illegibly. Is this the gentleman who's car you ticketed on the morning of (insert date) for parking too close to a fire hydrant?

COP: Yes sir.

JUDGE: and is this the vehicle in the photo that was illegally parked?

COP: Yes Sir.

JUDGE: (to you) Do you own this car?

YOU: Yes sir.

JUDGE: (to cop) And how close was the car parked to the hydrant in question?

COP: approximately 9 feet give or take a foot.

JUDGE: GUILTY! Pay the clerk on the way out. NEXT CASE!

BelizeBreeze said:

JUDGE: And what do you plea?

YOU: Not Guilty.

JUDGE: (to officer) I notice you filled this ticket out illegibly. Is this the gentleman who's car you ticketed on the morning of (insert date) for parking too close to a fire hydrant?

COP: Yes sir.

JUDGE: and is this the vehicle in the photo that was illegally parked?

COP: Yes Sir.

JUDGE: (to you) Do you own this car?

YOU: Yes sir.

JUDGE: (to cop) And how close was the car parked to the hydrant in question?

COP: approximately 9 feet give or take a foot.

JUDGE: GUILTY! Pay the clerk on the way out. NEXT CASE!

Click to expand...

LOL. Point taken, but NYC parking tickets are prima facie evidence of the violation, i.e. no officers need to be in court. That's why certain info must be correct (i.e. vehicle ID, location, offense) or the ticket is defective.

Of course, one has to wonder if the parking officers carry around a yardstick to measure these things... usually, they go by the painted yellow curbs but those are notoriously inaccurate.

These tickets are rarely dismissed, even with photos, mostly because its quite easy to get the ticket, move the car +/- 6 feet, take pictures, and argue you were parked legally. Unless the parking agent is in the picture waving, it's a very uphill battle.