Effin' Screw Up

[Alfetta159]

They send it with the ticket - like a toll charge mailed - as proof it was you.

Wrong again, @Dad

It's available on the website that city uses to allow payment and contesting the citation.

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[BretMaverick]

I had a similar problem. Got a parking ticket for something I don't remember. Investigating the ticket, I noticed the description of the vehicle was for a gold colored Cadillac. I had a black Toyota. I had to go down to the traffic violations bureau and contest the ticket. Who ever wrote the ticket misinterpreted one of the letters on the license plate. I believe the letter was a V. They wrote down a U instead. One thing I found out over the years, when you contest a ticket, make sure you have all the documentation to back you up. Ticket dismissed.

 

[babytruk]

I had a similar problem. Got a parking ticket for something I don't remember. Investigating the ticket, I noticed the description of the vehicle was for a gold colored Cadillac. I had a black Toyota. I had to go down to the traffic violations bureau and contest the ticket. Who ever wrote the ticket misinterpreted one of the letters on the license plate. I believe the letter was a V. They wrote down a U instead. One thing I found out over the years, when you contest a ticket, make sure you have all the documentation to back you up. Ticket dismissed.

Could you charge them for their mistake and your wasted day? Argh!

 

[ZABSMAV]

Got a parking ticket in the mail from the city of Newport Beach, California which is almost 400 miles from where I live. I've never been there with either of the cars that I own at the moment. The VIN on the notice matches my Mav, but the citation says, "TOY"...

0

The Tacoma license plate last two figures are clearly E4. Your license ends in F4. The system pulls your VIN from your registration. The parking enforcement misread the E as an F because of the black Toyota licence plate cover was obstructing the bottom of the E.

 

[My Blue Moo]

No, I simply got a parking ticket. That makes sense, however. I doubt the owner did it intentionally.

Gotcha. The Taco owner lucked out. Not only did you get the ticket, the officer could have impounded it.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

Did they cite intentionally obscuring the VIN? That's a felony in California. And the comment about an obstructed plate is valid, too.

I think you are mistaking that with intentionally ALTERING a VIN number.

Pretty sure bird poop on your window or being messy with your McNuggets wrapper on the inside is not a felony.

 

[babytruk]

I think you are mistaking that with intentionally ALTERING a VIN number.

Pretty sure bird poop on your window or being messy with your McNuggets wrapper on the inside is not a felony.

Aren’t McNuggets and bird poop related?

 

[MaverickDragon]

As far as a case of mistaken vehicle identity, perhaps a worse case scenario was the guy who found out when pulled over that he had 2,500 parking tickets.
None of them were his but he got the headache.

 

[BillHanna]

Had a similar thing happen in Jacksonville, Florida. Got a parking ticket for my Norton motorcycle. Went to traffic court, and all I had to do was state that my bike was not a Honda, and the judge immediately dismissed the ticket.

 

[rugedraw]

The cop wrote the wrong plate number, the letter between the 2 and the 4 is an E

Funny thing is, I just read an article recently that cops in FL were writing tickets for license plate frames for this very reason.

HRG

Yup......they did start enforcing that here recently. A client we sold a car to from the dealer I work at got ticketed and we paid for the ticket since it had our license plate frame on it.

 

[Alfetta159]

Your license plate has much more of the "2" showing, so yours has an F, not an E.

What exactly is juxtaposed ? It's obviously 2 different license plate numbers.

It's obvious only because I juxtaposed the two photos in the post, but to someone just seeing the Toyota plate, it's an easy mistake.

 

[Alfetta159]

Did they cite intentionally obscuring the VIN? That's a felony in California. And the comment about an obstructed plate is valid, too.

No, they didn't. It's kind of ironic as it's a key piece of evidence in their citation. They must have just run the plate as they misinterpreted it, got my VIN, ignored that that VIN is for a Ford and wrote TOY on the citation anyway.

Hopefully, they'll see their honest mistake and just go after the right guy. Money's money.

 

[MaverickDragon]

They send it with the ticket - like a toll charge mailed - as proof it was you.

Or in this case, that it wasn't.

 

[Alfetta159]

The Tacoma license plate last two figures are clearly E4. Your license ends in F4. The system pulls your VIN from your registration. The parking enforcement misread the E as an F because of the black Toyota licence plate cover was obstructing the bottom of the E.

I guess you missed the title "Effin' Screw Up'... You know, because mistook the E for an F.

 

[Alfetta159]

Go Spartans! I’m an alumnus too.

Best reply in this tread!

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