Rules for enforcing parking bylaws.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012 - Filed in: General Interest
Step one under The Summary Offence Procedures Amendment Act, 2005 calls for parking offences to be enforced by leaving a ticket on a vehicle. This gives the person with the ticket the opportunity to pay the amount shown on the ticket and avoid prosecution for the parking offence. The parking summons is the second step in enforcement of parking offences. The police can serve the summons by mail. The legislation provides that where a person does not respond in any way to a summons, a default conviction can occur. A person convicted by default can apply for a hearing within thirty days of becoming aware of the conviction. This provides an opportunity for a person charged to have a hearing in the event the person was not able to respond to the summons due to unusual circumstances. A municipality can register a lien against a vehicle owned by the person with an outstanding parking fine. The legislation provides for notice to the person and sets out the priority scheme applicable to the lien. The provisions state that before a person can be incarcerated for an outstanding parking fine, a notice advising the person that she or he may be arrested and held in custody must be personally served on the person with outstanding parking fines, the notice must advise the person that she or he has thirty days, from the date of service, to appear in court to request a hearing to explain their failure to respond to the summons and the vehicle owner has, without reasonable excuse, failed to pay the fine or discharge it through the fine option program.
