On Friday morning, I fought a parking ticket and won.  I am still so excited every time I think about it that I am going to share.

I was ticketed at the beginning of the month when a meter jammed halfway through paying.  I didn’t have enough change to move the car and pay for the whole amount of time again and I couldn’t finish paying where I was because of the stuck coin – a catch 22, if you will.  I tried calling the service number on the meter only to find that they weren’t open and apparently didn’t believe in using voicemail.  Since I couldn’t win, I just left the car in the half-paid spot and hoped for the best.  (I think that verbalizing that you hope to not get a ticket is kind of like a meter-maid Bat Signal – it’s like a beacon that calls to them, letting them know that somewhere in the night there are hopes to be dashed.)  It seemed especially unpleasant as I was parking at an event that I didn’t particularly want to attend in the first place, and I was more than a little irritated to find a parking ticket on my car when I came back out as I would have paid in full if the meter hadn’t malfunctioned.

I went in to “the parking magistrate” in Denver (a very grandiose title for people who give tickets, I think) to protest the ticket.  I went in with a copy of my phone bill (evidence that I did indeed try to do the right thing) and a hope that good intentions would trump expired meters.  I had to go present my case in a hearing room (also a little unnecessary on the part of the parking magistrate, if you ask me…) and I got the ticket dismissed!  While I’m sure my compelling evidence and well-practiced story didn’t hurt, I’m slightly convinced that the lady listening to my case just wanted me to leave so she could start the long weekend.

I was skeptical that parking ticketers would display reasonableness, but I am quite happy to say that it all worked out!  Keeping my money is wonderful, but I really feel like I get the most satisfaction from winning.  Winning is one of my hobbies that I am most passionate about.   What a wonderful start to the holiday weekend!  (side note:  a twelve day long weekend in fact!  yay for use it or lose it vacation days!)