Surprise $40 parking ticket delivery shocks Vaughan visitor

'Visiting Vaughan for a second time is the last thing I would do at this point'

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 20, 2018
Tim Kelly

A visitor to Vaughan got a totally unexpected nasty surprise in the mail recently.

And it prompted her to reach out to the city for an explanation.

Louise Choquette of Huntsville was stopping to let her daughter off at the brand new Vaughan Subway station when she was told by a city bylaw officer she couldn’t stop at a drop-off point.

Choquette’s daughter immediately got back in the vehicle and the pair moved to a more appropriate location thinking all was fine.

Then, the shocker.

Days later, by registered mail, Choquette received a $40 ticket for the brief pause. The officer had merely told her she couldn’t stop in the spot. Choquette said her car was in place for “maybe 20 seconds at the most,” and the bylaw officer didn’t even mention anything about a ticket.

“We both thought it would be a great way to try the new subway line and save driving downtown,” said Choquette.

“I had never been there before and did not see any signs for a passenger drop-off area,” she added about stopping before being told she couldn’t stop in the spot by the bylaw officer. That brief stop led to the $40 ticket.

Choquette was told by Vaughan bylaw and compliance that “to dispute the ticket, I would have to come in person to Vaughan.” She doesn’t plan to make the return trip from Huntsville to do that.

There are several signs spaced out at about 30-metre intervals on both sides of Millway Avenue off Highway 7 that tell drivers they cannot stop between 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. each day. But Choquette said she didn’t see them.

There are also 10-minute stopping “Kiss-and-Ride” areas located behind the subway station on Millway Avenue and on New Park Place adjacent to the subway station.

A public parking lot is located just west of the subway station off Hwy. 7 that can accommodate up to about 900 parking spots. Parking on weekdays costs $5 before 8 a.m., $12 between 8-4:30 p.m. and $5 after 4:30 p.m. Cost to park on weekends is $5.

Choquette’s experience mirrors that of Wayne Samuels of Vaughan, who also received a $40 ticket after a brief stop at the subway station in January. Samuels was just one of 271 drivers to get tickets in the first month after the subway opened. It appears the tickets just keep coming, even after those who have been warned to move their cars do so right away.

“There was no one around at the time -- I was shocked to get a $40 parking ticket in the mail two days later, through registered mail which costs Vaughan residents $9.84 to mail in addition to administrative fees -- quite frankly, visiting Vaughan for a second time is the last thing I would do at this point and I will be happy to discourage anyone else from doing so,” Choquette said.

An attempt to get comment from the City of Vaughan was not returned by deadline.