Discussions

I parked my car in front of where I live (I only have street parking, no drive way because I live in an apartment without parking). I went inside after work and come out the next morning to a ticket. In the time between going into my place for the day and coming out the next morning, no parking signs for street cleaning were put up and I was issued a ticket.  
 
The lady on the phone said this didn't fit any criteria for fighting the ticket... ? I do not understand this. Looking for advance since I don't have an extra $120 to dish out...  
 
This is kind of ridiculous.

I had a similar ticket in 2019. I was told there was no fighting it, but I found out that you have a right to fight any fine. You do have to fill out paperwork, then you get a court date. Once there, I was given a choice to see the judge or plead guilty and get a lesser fine. I chose to plead guilty and they reduced it to half of the original if I paid it right away. I also contacted the city, because there is a minimum number of hours that they must have signs posted, and they claimed that they met that requirement. I could not prove that they didn't, so settled on the half fine. (I don't remember what that minimum is.)

Thanks for the info.  
 
They aren't getting a dime of my hard earned money for this....

What does the ticket say as far as the rule you broke? They don't just randomly throw tickets on people's cars?

The City has to post signs on your street by 5PM on the day before the temporary no parking takes effect and in any case at least 12 hours before.  
 
https://brandon.ca/images/Traffic_By-law_No._5463_-_Parts_II_and_III.pdf  
 
I do know that public works fills out a log of where and when temp signs are placed on any given street. If I was a guessing guy, I'd say you might have missed the temp no parking sign when you parked last night. If there were truly no signs when you parked (after 5PM), phone the works department and ask them when the temporary signs were posted.

The temporary parking ban at 8am... sign was put up after I got out of my vehicle and retreated to my home for the night. Get to it in the morning and signs up and ticket.

What time did you get home vs. when did you leave your home? If it's more than 12 hours, while I'm sympathetic there's not a lot you can do. The city likely did their due diligence. It's not feasible for them to be knocking on doors in these cases, and adequate signage seems like a reasonable method of advising residents. It's an unfortunate hazard of street parking, which is why there are minimum standards for off-street parking for rental units. If your place doesn't have adequate off-street parking, you should take that up with your landlord.  
 
If you were home for a short time (say, came home at 9 pm and left again at 6 am), and there were no signs, then the city didn't do their due diligence and you'd have grounds to argue the ticket. But you would likely have to prove your case. There was a suggestion above on how to do that.  
 
There will be a point where fighting the ticket will cost you more time than what your time is worth. You will need to decide. Sometimes you just have to pay and chalk it up to lesson learned.

Not sure if you checked the link I sent you, but again, the by-law sates that the signs have to be posted before 5PM on the day prior. The city cleans most of the streets in summer and clears snow in the winter so the work crews are well aware of when the signs need to be posted, they are putting them up somewhere every day. Phone the works department and find out when the signs were put up. I think you'll find the signs were there, you just didn't see them.

Fight the ticket. Go to court and they may cut you a deal like they did me, to pay half. Or keep at it and you may get lucky. Just make sure you bring any evidence you can think of that’d help you, such as pictures or cctv/dash cam of yours or neighbors, anything else that could be sufficient proof. Good luck!!