Sunday, March 15, 2009

Duped driver gets a ticket refund

From 1010WINS:

A man who claimed a construction barrel was used to cover a New York City fire hydrant subjecting him to a $115 ticket has won his appeal and will get his fine refunded by the city.

Jonathon Turkel says he feels vindicated but point out this was more about the principle rather than the money.

Turkel had found a ticket for parking to close to a hydrant on the windshield of his car in the Financial District. However when he looked around he says he did not see a hydrant, only an orange construction barrel.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Expect more shell games while the city desperately searches for ways to make up their lost cash.

If you are thinking of buying a car, don't. Use the bus until the greedmeisters move onto other targets.

Anonymous said...

He probably put the barrel over the pump and then took a picture. very clever.

Anonymous said...

why all the sympathy for car drivers? really.

Anonymous said...

What exactly did he think the two six inch steel pipe stanchions were doing? Protecting an orange construction crate?

Anonymous said...

I have no sympathy for this guy. I really think that he KNEW there was a hydrant underneath but decided to park there anyway thinking that this would be an excuse to get him out of any possible ticket.

Anonymous said...

"two six inch steel pipe stanchions" could be there for any number of reasons. A hydrant is only one reason. A cone on top of it may indicate that it was covering a hole or the remains of something that was removed. You shouldn't have sympathy for the guy - he won.

Anonymous said...

I had my car ticketed after parking it next to a traffic agent and walking over to the munimeter to put my money in.

Steam was still rising from the engine while he insisted that my freshly parked car was at an expired meter.

I had to travel to Jamaica to have the ticket dismissed and was out a day's work and could have lost an entire temporary assignment since I was not at a fulltime permanent job at the time.

To make his bogus quota, the officer endangered my economic survival. Now I have no car, no license fees, no inspection fees, no titling fees, DOT is too tricky and they can all drop dead.

Anonymous said...

Triple the amount of the fine and charge him just for being a wise ass. Have him pick up the court costs too.

Anonymous said...

This is becoming a problem in Grand Rapids, MI too. I commute from my loft overlooking Lake Michigan in Grand Haven into Grand Rapids for work every morning.

I too, have been ticketed for the same thing. Orange barrel over a hydrant, and the street sign saying there is a hydrant there (used to mark a hydrants location in the winter when snow is covering it) is taken down or nowhere to be seen.

The city says it isn't them, but I have a funny feeling this is just a way for the city to make a few extra dollars.