Do I have a case to dispute this parking violation?
 

Today I received a ticket from mail (city of vancouver) for meter expired with zero.
To make the story short my story was I got a call on my cell, pulled over at a metered spot (bluetooth headset battery died) and took the call for 4 minutes (3:52 logged on phone). the ticket guy probably saw me stop and go (I used the word stopping because the whole time the engine was running) and dont have time to issue the ticket to me directly.
Now my question is this meter expired with zero violation, does it apply to parked and stopping car or just parked car only? I know most of you guys probably gonna say go pay for it since you park there and didnt pay, but come on, someone stop there for like 4 minutes to talk on phone, is the city that poor?

So you got a ticket in the mail?

Read the first line lol
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Ops

""park", when prohibited, means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when standing temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading;"

This is what the MV Act defines as parking. I would assume that the City would use the same definition. Tehnicaly you told us you were "parked". The City believes you were so you got a ticket. You do have the right to dispute it but to get off, you would need to convince the JP that you were not doing what you told us you were doing.


And yes....the City is that poor,....they have more $3 million temporary cycle lanes to install in perfectly good roads, don't you know?

Seems really petty that you got a ticket for that. Tell the judge you took a call and that you didn't want to break the no calls law. I think that's pretty reasonable and if you're nIce about it he might let you off.
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Yeah, but then he would have broke the no idling law cause he was there for 4 minutes and he said he left the engine on the whole time.

ok, I always though parking means engine's off and stopping means the engine running. O well, not going to dispute if I dont have a clear case, $70 is not that bad and not really worth the trouble/stress. I am just a bit frustrated to get a ticket for talking on the phone while pulled over for a few minutes

I know, it sucks. I've been parked before on the side waiting for someone before but the enforcement officer saw I was in the car and gave me the option to pay the meter, so I put 25cents in and she was fine with that. I guess it's how lucky you are.

There are no judges anymore as they are using an adjudication process now like Burnaby, Surrey, and Richmond etc

Wouldn't hurt to give Parking Enforcement a call and explain the circumstances, they may just cancel it on the spot (chances might not be good, but you have nothing to lose but a few minutes of airtime).

Was just lurking around the forums, came across your issue. (probably too late)

If you do go ahead with trying to dispute it, I strongly suggest you get your call history record to show that it corresponds with the time of the ticket. It probably won't mean anything but at least it is showing you are being sincere.

And hey...anything helps right!