City mulls mailing parking tickets

City of Toronto Notice of Violation

Drivers who park illegally on Toronto streets and zoom away before a parking enforcement officer can hand out a ticket may still have to pay if a councillor has his way.

The executive committee voted on Wednesday to send a report to the city manager that recommends amending the Provincial Offences Act so that parking infraction notices can be mailed to a driver.

The motion was put forward by Coun. Mike Layton, who said unserved tickets in Toronto is a "problem."

"We've got laws in the city that say you need to pay a ticket but you can just drive away – that seems a little ridiculous," he told CTV Toronto.

Currently, under the Provincial Offences Act, parking enforcement officers must affix a parking ticket to a vehicle, or deliver it personally to the driver. Some drivers, however, choose to evade getting penalized by taking off. Every year, the City of Toronto is forced to cancel nearly 100,000 unserved notices.

If the recommendation is eventually approved at the municipal level, the Ontario attorney general will have to rubber stamp it.

The report is expected to return back from the city manager after the Oct. 27 election.