St. John's fixes parking meter, writes ticket, loses case

A traffic court judge has tossed a parking ticketwritten by City of St. John's staff, who issued the fine shortly after replacing a missing parking meter.

Warren Gibbons received an unwelcome surprise when he returned to his vehicle after work and found a parking ticket on the car.

He told judge David Orr that the meter was missing when he parked in the morning and when he checked during his lunch break but it was there when he left work for the day, along with a ticket on the windshield.

The City of St. John's acknowledged that the meter was temporarily removed, and replaced later in the day. However, city staff failed to install a no-parking sign at the meter while it was absent, which is required under the bylaw.

No intentional breach

The city argued that the traffic ticket should still stand, but Orr wrote that the city failed to prove Gibbons intended to break the bylaw.

"The city chose to reinstall the meter at some point while Mr. Gibbons was away from his vehicle, giving him no opportunity to comply with the parking meter requirements," Orrsaid in a written decision.

The city testified that in normal practice, when a meter is re-installed the sitting vehicle is given two hours' worth of credit.

"That practice is not set out in the bylaws and there is no evidence that it was done in this case," Orr wrote.

"Theoretically in the current situation the meter could be replaced while the owner is absent and the vehicle immediately ticketed."