Two weeks ago, Jean-Pierre Colgan-Nolin parked overnight in front of his downtown home. The snowfall that night was heavy, so the following day, Nolin opted to leave his car at home and take the metro to school. Upon returning, there was a ticket placed under the wiper of his car—the city was charging him $53 dollars for leaving the car parked for more than 24 hours. Colgan-Nolin said he was stunned by the fine, and that road signs in the area where the car was left do not specify any rules about parking time. Because he pays for a monthly parking permit, he assumed he could stay parked on the street, so long as he wasn’t interfering with snow removal. “I found it really ridiculous – it’s totally absurd,” he said. “When I called to complain about my ticket and ask them for information, they told me I had to look by myself. I told them it would be a good idea to tell the people that buy the parking permit, to inform them of the law,” he explained. The problem is, the laws and regulations vary according to the area of the city. Some boroughs, like the Sud Ouest, allow cars to park for 72 consecutive hours, but in Ville Marie, it’s just 24. “When someone goes to the city and they’re asking for a permit to park on the street, it would be a good thing to give them a copy of the bylaw of the borough where they live—to make sure they know all those little things that nobody knows,” explained Eric Lamontagne, an attorney with SOS Ticket. So what would happen if Colgan-Nolin chose to contest the ticket in court? According to Lamontagne, he would more than likely be found guilty and ordered to pay the fine. “They’ll say ‘listen, you need to know about all the bylaws in Montreal,” Lamontagne said, adding that this incident is an especially good reminder to thoroughly understand the parking restrictions in your area. As part of Mayor Valerie Plante’s budget, the city wants to raise an extra $12 million in speeding and parking tickets. “They want us to take the metro more often, the bus -- but with that kind of ticket, I’ll have to take my car more often,” Colgan-Nolin said. “I can’t leave my car in front of my place.”
