Fake look alike tickets part of money grab scam?

[Metro Jacksonville]

Fake look alike tickets part of money grab scam?



Downtown parking lot operators, including Central Parking System (http://www.parking.com/), are engaging in the questionably legal act of issuing their own parking tickets to downtown visitors and residents. These parking citations are designed to look like an official city citation, but instead of directing the payment to the tax collector, as required by law, it illegally demands that payment be made to Central Parking System, located at 550 Water St. Suite 1343 (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q hl=en q=550+water+street,+jacksonville,+fl sll=37.0625,-95.677068 sspn=50.956929,82.265625 layer= ie=UTF8 z=19 ll=30.326184,-81.66492 spn=0.001711,0.00339 t=k om=1 iwloc=addr).

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/368

[Julie]

I got one of those and now I'm not paying it!!

[Fred]

Yea, my first day working downtown last summer I didn't know which parking lot I was allowed to park in, picked the wrong one (albeit one which was 3/4 vacant), and when I went to move my car at lunch there was a ticket waiting for me.  

[Johnny]

So, if it's not paid can they actually seek out legal action or report you to a credit bureau?

[Jack of Jacksonville]

Anybody can seek legal action against anyone else for any reason. But.... in order to prevail, that legal action must have some reasonable basis and not be built on deceit or a fairy tale. This is the most ridiculous and outrageous bit of borderline criminal activity being perpetrated in plain sight that I have seen in a while.  The short answer is that you would have to be crazy to pay this, and as i see it Central Parking Systems may have made themselves a prime target for a class action lawsuit seeking treble damages. Also BTW, violations of the FDCPA are subject to very high fines from the feds.

[owen]

great story

[D Neal]

I used to respect the articles on this website but the inferences and faulty legal conclusions drawn here have negated that.  The reason the tickets look similar is because Central Parking System has a contract with the same ticket issuance company as the city and therefore is supplied the same hardware, software and paper tickets.  Central Parking System or any other private parking operator has the right to control their private property, pure and simple.  A parking facility is a product which costs overhead to operate, similar to a flower shop that sells flowers.  Nobody would suggest you just waltz in and take any flower arrangement you want without paying--that is stealing.  The same applies to parking and the most effective way CPS has to control theft of parking services is to issue parking notices.  

[Steve]

So, If I see you commit a crime on my property, can I jump into my Policeman's suit and "Arrest" you?

Nobody is talking about infringing on property rights, but private businessed can not give citations under the guise of a city citation.

[JohnQ]

The most effective way Central Parking can control theft of parking services is by towing, not by issuing fake tickets. The only problem with towing is that CPS does not see revenue, so for them it is more effective to issue phony tickets. You are not allowed to recover MORE than costs you have incurred unless those punitive damages are awarded by a jury, which would clearly not happen in a fake parking ticket situation.

[D Neal]

Yes, by law you would be able to act to protect your property.  And again, your mistaken assumption is that it is a "guise" to fool citizens into thinking that it is a city citation.  Private parking companies in core business districts have controlled their parking lots with parking notices for well over 40 years.  It's real simple, if you park on a private parking lot without paying then you are in effect stealing their product and they have every right to attempt to control it.  If you don't want the ticket then don't park on the lot--or pay for the service when you do.

[Lunican]

D Neal, what exactly are these "parking notices"? Are they citations, or are they bills?

[Jack of Jacksonville]

To compare walking into a florist shop and removing a flower arrangement to parking on an unprotected vacant lot and implying that something is being stolen is ridiculous, moronic and retarded.  In civil law a claim for damages must be substantiated by showing what damages have occurred. since the lot was not open for business, and since there was no competition for spaces (i.e.) the parked car is not displacing a paying customer, and there is no protective fencing around the lot to stop anyone from parking there, it would not be possible to prove in a court of law that any financial loss occurred. Punitive damages are not allowed in small claims court (which is where a ridiculous case like this would be adjudicated), only actual damages.  Since there are no actual damages the case would be dismissed as being without legal basis.

As to the fact that they have been doing this for over 40 years you're lucky that you didn't get caught any sooner.

The posting above by D. Neal is so stupid and nonsensical that it is beyond the comprehension of a reasonable and normal person, for any of that to make sense, you'd have to be crazy!

Wow! what a dope!

[Adam B]

i've received a couple of these, and i just toss them.  they can put them on your car all they want, i guess, but they have no way of legally making you pay them.  it's pretty obvious that they put these on cars to scare people into thinking that they must be paid.

[D Neal]

The parking notices are past due bills, actually.  I do not work for CPS or in parking in general but did work in parking in a past career.  Clancy Systems is a ticket issuance company that has the best technology and is the most cost effective so a lot of private companies and municipalities use them, including CPS and City of JAX, that's why the tickets are similar.  If I remember correctly for the notices to be conforming they had to be in a differently colored envelope than a municipal parking violation and could not be labeled  as a "violation" or "ticket".  And JohnQ, a private parking company could revenue share with a towing company, and some do.  Most companies view towing as extreme, but some do immobilize cars with a "boot" the first time they catch the car on the lot without payment.

[Jack of Jacksonville]

If you don't want people parking in your lot after hours, then put a fence around it or tow the cars.  These fake parking citations are just a way to raise money for nothing.  

Mr. Parking expert, answer me this: what makes a parking space in a lot that is closed worth 5X what it is worth when the lot is open?? How exactly does that equation work? Is it the law of reverse supply and demand? The less somebody wants something, the more it is worth?  I guess that they follow super advanced post doctoral economic theories that the average Joe is incapable of understanding.