A HOME-owner has been left fuming after coming across an illegally parked vehicle that’s incurred over $22,000-worth of parking tickets.
A red Toyota Sienna parked up on Grove Street, San Francisco, was spotted with a missing bumper and scratched paint work – and 90 tickets parking tickets to its name.
The car had been cited numerous times for offences such as double-parking and blocking wheelchair access[/caption]
It was later towed by officials, although the owner may get away without paying a dime[/caption]
A Reddit user, who posted a picture of the car to the site upon checking its number plate on the city’s parking website, was angered to discover it owed $22,300 in unpaid fines from 90 tickets.
They posted the image along with the caption: “The owner of this car parks absolutely wherever they want — sidewalks, crosswalks, loading zones, RPP zones — with zero consequences, over and over again.”
The post then went viral, with commenters sharing their own frustrations on parking enforcement in the area.
One commenter wrote: “It feels like (officials at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) enforce the rules more on those they know will follow them.”
Another wrote: “Feeling punished by being a law-abiding person.”
However, speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency explained they couldn’t tow the car solely for unpaid tickets – a practice known as “poverty towing.”
But they can tow for other reasons, such as blocking driveways or holding an expired registration.
MTA spokesperson Erica Kato said: “Our priority is to enforce parking rules where there is a threat to public safety, the right of way, or if a vehicle is blocking Muni access or a bike lane.”
Days later, San Francisco Police officer Dustin Ortiz saw the Reddit post and said: “If it’s there tomorrow at 6, it’ll be towed.”
Naturally, it was there, and Ortiz found that its registration had in fact expired nearly two years ago
He said: “It’s very frustrating.
“It feels like we don’t have time to enforce these rules — but … this was towable by every department that can tow, for a very long time.”
As the car was being towed, residents thanked him for addressing the issue.
In total, the Sienna had been cited 30 times between January and September for offences such as double-parking and blocking wheelchair access.
Despite numerous violations, the vehicle’s owner, a 44-year-old woman, couldn’t be reached by the San Francisco Chronicle for comment.
The report revealed that the city of San Francisco allows residents who register as homeless to have open parking tickets on a vehicle removed once – though it us unclear if that provision applied to the owner of the Sienna.
The Reddit user who originally posted about the Sienna later revealed his personal reasons for his frustration, recalling his father’s struggles with mobility due to a spinal injury.
He said: “It was difficult watching him navigate a world not situated for disabled people.
“It made me lose patience with this stuff.”
San Francisco issues around 1 million parking tickets annually, which generates some $90 million in revenue.
The Sienna remained impounded with $8,048 in unpaid fines.
An illegally parked car in San Francisco has incurred over $22,000 worth of parking fines[/caption]
