I need help please! Being harassed daily.

[thaddeus333]

What is the name of your state? Ca.

I have a commercial box truck and I park it on a public street. There is no sign restricting parking of any kind. I move the truck every couple of days, but I have a tattle tale in my complex that doesn't appreciate my situation. They have called the parking police and got me on a list that has the police stopping by everyday to see if I have moved it or not. Today I come home and they have it on the back of a tow truck. They force me to pay 80 bucks or they are towing it and it will cost me 300. The tow truck driver claims that I am not allowed to park my truck on the street because it is a commercial vehicle. The police lady claims that I did not move the truck with in 3 days, which is untrue, I moved it the day before yesterday. She wrote me a ticket for $65.00 for abandoning a vehicle on a public street.

My questions are:
Can I fight the ticket and how?

Is the tow truck driver correct?

Can I get the $80 payment(bribe) that I paid to the tow truck driver back?


Thanks in advance.

 

[CdwJava]

My questions are:
Can I fight the ticket and how?

It's a parking ticket - if you read the back of the ticket you will find out the appeals process. Usually you have to appear before a bureaucrat or a panel of them to appeal the citation (after paying the fine up front). If you exhaust all appeals and still lose you can take it to court if you want to.

You can find your city's parking citation appeal procedures either on line or at city hall.

Is the tow truck driver correct?

Yes. Once they have it on the hook, you owe them money. You got off lucky - they probably could have charged you more money ... even 10 years ago it was $90 in San Diego just to drop it off the hook! Heaven knows what it is today! (I moved away 5 years ago)

Can I get the $80 payment(bribe) that I paid to the tow truck driver back?

Sorry - it's not a bribe, it's the tow fee ... provided the tow was lawful (i.e. authorized by the city). If you sue everyone and win, you might get your money back, but you'd have to prove that the two was unlawful.

I don't suppose there is a way you can park your truck in a driveway?

If the issue is 72 hours without moving, you might have to get anal and mark your own tires, take a date and timestamped digital photo of the marks on the tire and street, and maybe also keep a log of dates, times, and starting and ending mileage. That would likely be a pretty good defense against future efforts to tow the truck.

You say you have a tattletale in your complex ... is this street a publicly maintained roadway? Or is this a private road in an apartment complex or private/gated community of some kind? If it is NOT a public street, a whole different set of rules apply.

- Carl

 

[elmattad]

harrsed daily

To bad we can't go back in time and Jesse James them.