by Dr. Radut

Q&A - Imperial Parking Ticket

Published by DriveSmartBC -

Q&A ImageI took my brother who holds a valid handicap parking pass to his eye care appointment at 550 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC and had it displayed on my windshield - he is unable to currently drive so I offered to take him and paid over $10.00 in parking fees only to return to my vehicle to find a ticket for either $80.00 or $60 if paid within 7 days - the reason given was Plate # Not registered  - as he recently moved from Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland he had no way of getting to his appointments today - is he unable to use the pass - what is necessary for his family to be able to assist him with his appointments - I cannot afford to be kind only to receive tickets as we live on a fixed income as well

It was issued by Imperial Parking Canada Corporation Notice #01C954742 Lot Code 1768 - says "Restricted Lot" - says ..."hereby notify you that you have parked on private property without displaying a valid pass or sufficient valid dispenser ticket(s) or have otherwise improperly parked as detailed below."

I went back to the car twice after the initial payment to add time.  This is a new building - when adding time I may have been less than 3 minutes over the time due to waiting for elevator etc.

Published by DriveSmartBC - 2015/07/24 - 08:48 | Permalink

It is not a parking ticket issued by the City of Vancouver, but a payment request under the terms of the agreement that you accepted when you chose to park on private property owned by Impark. In this case it appears to be for not having a valid ticket at the time the lot attendant checked.

If you fail to pay it, Impark can choose to treat it as a bad debt and turn it over for collection which could cause problems with your credit history. There is also the possibility of being towed if you park in an Impark lot again without having paid outstanding debts.

You can request help from Impark on line. I would suggest that you explain having purchased a ticket before and after receiving the notice, highlighting how little time there was between the expiry of one and the purchase of the other and explain your financial circumstances. Hopefully they will decide in your favour.

Published by CompetentDrivingBC - 2015/07/24 - 10:22 | Permalink

... when I read about one of these parking companies issuing tickets (Diamond are infamous for sending tickets to people who just drove in and then right out of one of their parking lots, and very demanding/threatening regarding their 'fines') is who gives them access to the license plate/vehicle owner information?

Operations like Treo and the now defunct Aircare program have to operate under very strict rules regarding privacy; yet these parking companies seem to have ready access to vehicle owner's information - do they get it from the ICBC database?

Published by Anonymous (not verified) - 2015/08/01 - 11:17 | Permalink

Thank you for your reply - it is very helpful - however, I could not find an actual form for dispute notice so went into their website and hit filing a dispute notice which just brought me back to filling in the original question - ???? on reviewing the notice, it was over by 5 minutes which seems a little heavy handed

Published by K_McIntosh - 2015/07/31 - 07:30 | Permalink

I also wonder how these parking companies manage to get such good info ... I can't get it for another person's vehicle ... how do they do it?

Or rather, who allows them access?

As for Anonymous's issue with Imperial ... get on this ASAP, be nice and polite and try to win over a supervisor / manager ... don't accept the first front line recitation of policy from a front liner ... or even their immediate superior.  As a tool of last resort, carefully point out how this issue now has a life of its' own (this post of yours, plus the higher profile it has received by being featured in the 31JUL15 DriveSmartBC newsletter ... IMPARK will understand the potential negative impact on their customer relations / public profile such a story could have ... and, as need be, if you really want to develop a ground swell of support for your cause and apply pressure, consider going to Change.org and starting a petition against IMPARK's seeming black & white policies ... I'm sure there are plenty of people (I'm one of them) who would be willing to vent about their experience with these parking lot folk.

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