Via Market Power, this one takes the cake.
CHICAGO - It sounds like the meter maid's version of a speed trap: A ticket for parking at a meter that was installed after you park your car.
But that's what happened in Chicago last week, where a handful of motorists returned to their vehicles and found parking meters - and tickets - that weren't there when they parked.
According to a spokeswoman for the city's revenue department it was all just an innocent mistake. The way Efrat Dallal explains it, the vehicles were parked on a stretch of roadway where the meters were temporarily removed during street construction. Then, she said, the meters were put back and the vehicles parked in front of them were ticketed.
But some motorists wondered if that was the case after at least one of the tickets was apparently postdated several hours after it was placed on a car.
That's a good story, but it's not the only good Chicago parking story. Unfortunately, Chicago sometimes misdirects their parking tickets. Lots of people who have never been to Chicago get them. Thing is, I've received a parking ticket for parking in a place where I had never parked. It wasn't from Chicago, it was from Iowa City. What made it easy to contest was that the vehicle description was all wrong. The person writing the ticket probably entered a character from the license plate incorrectly. I was told that it happens all the time. I would guess that is often the case in Chicago. I mean after all, when you write millions of tickets, there are going to be transcription errors and some poor guy in Vandalia is going to get a Chicago parking ticket.
Something similar happened to me in college. As a poor student, and to save a few bucks, I parked off-campus and walked the extra mile to school. One day, when I returned to my car, the entire block was "No Parking". And of course I had a ticket!
I enjoyed my day in court. I told the judge what happened and he didn't even ask for proof. Sweet justice. Thanks for the reminder.