The following are excerpts from a NY Daily News article:
Ira Goldberg had heard talk of a new traffic agent ploy, but the rumors still seemed too far-fetched to be true as he parked his Mitsubishi Montero on E.52nd St. off Park Ave. on Monday.
The 54-year-old courier proceeded directly to the nearest muni meter, paid, and turned back toward the Mitsubishi just down the block.
He was then astonished to see the rumors were true: A traffic agent was standing by his vehicle, writing a summons even though he had stepped away for just the necessary moment to pay.
“What are you doing?” Goldberg inquired. “I just bought the meter receipt.”
“I didn’t see you by the car,” the traffic agent replied by Goldberg’s account.
“How can I be by the car and buy the meter receipt at the same time?” Goldberg asked. “Didn’t you look to see if somebody’s over by the meter buying a receipt?”
“I don’t have to look,” the agent said.
Goldberg decided there was only one way to get a supervisor there while the agent was still present. He made what he terms “a stink,” careful not to curse or threaten.
“You keep yelling at me, I’ll get a supervisor,” the agent said.
“That’s what I want,” Goldberg said.
The agent radioed a report of “an irate motorist,” describing Goldberg’s sputtering as spitting.
“Yeah, I’m irate, all right,” Goldberg said.
Two supervisors arrived, along with a dozen or so other agents.
“I could hear you yelling from 10th Ave.,” a supervisor said.
“That’s why you’re here,” Goldberg replied.
Goldberg had a receipt showing that he had paid at 11:48 a.m. The summons was dated 11:49 a.m., so the agent was clearly filling it out even as he was paying.
“Can’t you imagine my frustration?” Goldberg asked.
“You shouldn’t have been screaming,” the supervisor said. “If you had not been yelling, I probably could have done something for you.”
Goldberg was left with the summons.
He still has the receipt and figures he will again prevail, keeping his perfect record. He will meanwhile be putting a sign on his dashboard when he goes to pay for parking.
“At muni meter.”
(READ MORE: http://www.nydailynews.com/ YWN-4705)
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24 Responses
The driver will probably win when he challenges the tickets (if it takes that long). Whether he can sue for damages (tort of malicious prosecution) is a different issue.
If he had gotten even a half hearted apology and a correction on the ticket from the agent, he would not have felt the need to yell.
These meter people are the epitomy of r’shoyim. Der Aybishter zul zey ala avek nemin!
He should definitely fight it. Why should he pay for parking spot and a ticket? These cops are out to get people. The seem very money hungry.
All this yelling is a waste of time. Get your local political representative to contact the mayor, and ask that the rules be changed to expicitly require that agents check the Muni Meter Paystation before they ticket a vehicle.
Even is Goldberg wins in court, he loses, because he will have wasted hours of productive time, with no renumeration.
I just had a similar story. I parked my car and not having change for the meter went into the store right in front of my car to get change of a dollar. I even jokingly told the very kind store owner who gave me change that I hope I don’t get a ticket during this one minute delay. Well lo and behold I walked out to the sight of a meter maid writing out my ticket. She just ignored me.
“Medina shel chesed” My foot!!!
How about the trick they use by putting up a new ‘no standing’ sign while you are legally parked and issue a ticket after the sign is installed? Happened to me twice,fought and won but wasted time going to court twice.
They used to have brown uniforms and be called “brownies”.
It was a much more appropriate color.
Everyone realized that, and that’s why they changed it.
If I was a cop, I would find it appalling that these parasitic creatures wear basically the same uniforms and drive basically the same cars as the real police.
My suggestion to all those that want to hear me. When you see them giving you a ticket that instance place a quarter in the meter and just smile to them and say thank you. Then you can claim you paid the meter and you wish the summons to be dismissed, and 100% of the time it will, because their records will show that there was the quarter in the meter at the time of the summons. Screaming will not help and actually will cause a Hillul Hashem Has’veshalom. Hatzloocha Rabbah
I hate to be picky but I’m pretty sure the headline should be OUTRAGEOUS not OUTRAGES. People tend to take stories more seriously when the headline is spelled correctly and is grammatically correct.
a few years back my father came to move his car at 4:10 in the morning b/c of street cleaning and there was already a ticket on his car, thankfully the police officer never heard of the state he was from and gave a ticket with the adjoining state as his state
ialso saw two smart cars parked in one meter since they are small so she didnt know who to give the ticket to so she gave both cars a ticket
#7 why dont you try china, japan (just dont be caught spitting at the floor) etc
call David Greenfield. He gets results. VOTE 4 DAVID
#7 Couldnt agree more! I was thinking about moving to Iran maybe. Wanna come?
What happened to the good old days when the meters had the knob and we could just break the meter in a matter of seconds? Ticket dismissed, and youre mizakeh the rabim till it gets fixed.
Mamash rishoyim to change the system!! Antisemites!
well i once got a double parked ticket waiting at a red light in boro park and when i went to the judge to fight it she made it stick even with a witness to back it up so i wish you good luck
#8 – How could they put up a “No Standing” sign while you are parked there? Is it a temporary No Standing sign or a new permanent No Standing sign? I’m so confused. How often does that happen?
#10, thats illegal too. It’s called “OBSTRUCTION OF GOVERNMENT” and you could get arrested for it. It could land you in jail with a criminal summons.
I love putting quarters into meters that are about to expire for frum cars; best chesed money spent.
A few comments to the commenters:
Thumbs up to #14 & #16. We have to thank Hashem for what we have here!
#17, very cute.
#19, my thoughts exactly.
#21, how do you know that the cars are frum? do they wear a sheitel/borsalino?
and #11: The word “outrage” is a noun, referring to an act of cruelty, or something outrageous. So maybe YWN is informing us of one of many “outrages”? Just saying, it’s a possibility.
#17, you still can do that with today’s meters.
all you need to do is stick a small piece of cardboard into the slot, and hold it for 30 sec.
and the meter will say fail!!!
London is worse. Can’t feed the meters. If it is a say a 4 hour parking zone and you put in £2.00 for half an hour and fine you need more time and add say £2.00 or £4.00 to gain more time since you need an hour and half get ticket for feeding the meter.I have gotten them. You need to put the maximum money in at once or you can’t even add.
They got this animals coming out of the wood work like coca roaches