$450 for parking WITH handicapped permit in standing zone

Last week I saw a spot on the street that was designated for handicapped only. I have a handicapped parking permit that was clearly displayed on my car, so I parked there, paid the meter, and went to my doctor's appointment (back story: the hospital parking lot was full, as were two others I tried before seeing the spot). On returning, I saw a $450 ticket. The infraction was "stand vehicle in on-street loading zone for persons with a disability while not boarding or discharging valid accessible parking permit holder." It noted in comments that my accessible permit was displayed but "unattended, no activities."

When I looked more closely at the signs, I understood this must have been designated as a zone for "handicapped standing only" -- in other words, to drop off handicapped persons (I guess?). The signs said "No Standing" followed by a handicapped icon and the words "by permit only." Beneath that was a separate sign saying "passenger (loading only)". Beneath THAT was the standard pay parking enforced sign. When I had seen that series of signs while first parking, I had originally understood it to be saying that this was a handicapped parking spot, and that people without a handicapped permit were not permitted to "stand" in the spot. Seemed perfectly legit to park there to me.

My question is, do I have a case to petition against this? I used the spot in good faith, believing it to be handicapped designated (as they often are -- though definitely not often enough). I am on crutches, but am a young, otherwise healthy professional woman. This ticket seems beyond punitive to me, particularly as handicapped spaces have such high fines precisely in order to protect people with severe mobility limitations such as myself. Had I illegally parked on the corner or in a non-designated parking spot, the fine would have been significantly lower. Any advice on how to proceed with my contesting of this ticket?

Thanks!

gargoyle wrote:

Last week I saw a spot on the street that was designated for handicapped only. I have a handicapped parking permit that was clearly displayed on my car, so I parked there, paid the meter, and went to my doctor's appointment

Toronto? Curious as to why you'd pay for parking? Parking is after the signs and no standing is before. You are either in one or the other. In Toronto for instance, I'm pretty sure APP holders are exempt from paying for on street parking anyways.

Accessible parking permits are not exempt from parking in designated no standing zones. The particular sign you're in disagreement over is "a sign that prohibits standing except the standing of vehicles displaying a valid accessible parking permit". You can always request a meeting they'll most likely reduce your ticket.

I think the words on all signs do not explain them well at all.

However, the arrows with one left, one right, explained it all.

So....it all depends which side you did park.

I would go for Option 3 and request a trial anyways.

Thanks for this, folks. Perhaps it's now obvious that I'm pretty clueless about the rules with APPs -- I didn't even know you didn't have to feed the meter (seriously -- thank you for commenting on that -- they don't give you a set of rules when you get the permit and I just assumed you followed the same procedures as without one, except that you can use handicapped spots too. I've only had an APP for a couple of months. I guess the upshot is that even if I pay a $450 parking ticket fine I will recuperate some small amount of that back in the next 12 months while I wait for surgery, by NOT paying parking meters!).

I still think the signs are ambiguous -- I read them as saying that it was pay parking for everybody to the left, and to the right there was "no standing" EXCEPT if you have an APP, and EXCEPT if you are loading a passenger. I interpreted it as indicating that people with an APP could park to the right. Anyway, I have requested a hearing and I'm hoping they will at least reduce the fine. It seems a terrible injustice to force somebody who is disabled to pay an outrageous fine like that. As a separate issue, I also can't believe that Women's College Hospital doesn't have an overflow parking area or reserve spaces for handicapped people to park there even when the regular spaces are full. This city is really not accessibility-friendly -- there are never enough handicap-designated parking spaces anywhere I go.

If anybody has other advice for how to strategize my petition in court, please don't hesitate to tell me! Many thanks.