TODAY I RECEIVED A "NOTICE OF FINE AND DUE DATE" BY MAIL WHICH SAYS THAT I HAVE BEEN CONVICTED OF PARKING OR LEAVING MY CAR ON PRIVATE PROPERTY AT 2:36 AM (!!!) WITH ADDRESS NEAR MY HOUSE. FIRST OF ALL I NEVER FOUND ANY TICKETS ON OR AROUND MY CAR, SECOND -I HAVE MY OWN UNDERGROUND PARKING AND NEVER LEAVE MY CAR OUTSIDE, ESPECIALLY AT 2:36 AM. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!! I HAVE BEEN DEFRAUDED BY MY OWN GOVERNMENT OUT OF MINE $46.00 WHICH IS NOT EASILY EARNED NOW DAYS !!!! AND NOW WHAT - I HAVE TO LOSE MY OWN TIME AND MONEY TO GO TO COURT???!!!! ANY IDEAS HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS?! THANK YOU.

Please refrain from typing in CAPS.

As far as your ticket goes, the charging company will need to prove you were on their property.

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http://www.OHTA.ca OR http://www.OntarioTrafficAct.com

-Which city sent you the notice of fine and due date? I ask because $46.00 sounds like an odd number to me and makes me wounder whether that notice actually came from the city or whether it was issued by one of the less then reputable private parking companies. If it is a private parking lot operator demanding money and not the city then you can try and resolve the matter with the private company or simply ignore it, although you will have to put up with some annoying collection letters and phone calls. However, assuming the notice was sent by the city, unfortunately you will have to jump through some hoops to get it resolved.

-Also I find it a little odd that you never got a "Notice of Impending Conviction" normally the city will send you a letter warning you that you have an out standing ticket that is over 15 days old and give you an additional 15 days to either pay it or book a court date. It is unfortunate that you never got one of these as they are a lot less difficult to deal with than a "Notice of Fine and Due Date."

- However since you have received a "Notice of Fine and Due date" it means you have already been convicted and you will need to petition a Justice of the Peace to re-open your case. Assuming the JP grants your request to reopen you can then request disclosure and see what evidence the prosecution has against you. This should get you a copy of the original ticket and a copy of the ticketing officers notes. Once you have those you can check for errors. For instance if the officer's notes say he ticketed a red Honda and you drive a blue Ford then you can use that to show that the officer made a mistake and wrote down the wrong plate number on the ticket. If you find an error like that you can talk to the prosecutor and there is a good chance that they will withdraw the charge, if they don't withdraw the charge you can bring the issue up at trial. I understand your frustration as even though you haven't done anything wrong you are still going to have to make several trips to the court house to get this thing sorted out.

Thank You for all replies, and I am sorry for my CAPS. The Notice of Fine and Due Date was issued by the city of Toronto and it is $46.00. I still have no idea how they can do that?! The car was never parked at the place and time they claim, no prior ticket was received, and now I have to "jump through some hoops" to prove them wrong?! Who has time to go courts ?! and even if I do - by losing work hours I will definitely will lose more than $46.00. So I probably will have to bite this one and just pay it. Is it just my luck though or do these mistakes happen a lot? If they do, there is a certain flaw in that system and somebody really must do something about it.

Interesting I thought that unauthorized parking on private property was only $30.00 in Toronto. However I haven't looked in a while so it is possible they have increased the fine or added some kind of fee for tickets that go into default. Still before you pay that notice I would call parking tag operations at 416-397-TAGS (8247) and double check that $46.00 is the correct amount and to double check that they were the ones who issued the notice. Although rare there have been cases where scammers have issued fake parking invoices to try to get people to send money.

These kind of mistakes are relatively rare but they do happen. Unfortunately in your case there seem to have been two mistakes, the issuing of an incorrect ticket and the failure to send you a notice of impending conviction, which possibly could have been dealt with without having to go to court. Unfortunately at this point I can see what you mean about the lost pay from having to make several court appearances not being worth it to fight a parking ticket that won't have any impact on insurance.