On January 14, I received a delinquent notice dated January 4, from PVB stating that I owed them $45 dollars - a citation for parking in front of a fire hydrant dated December 12, which I had no knowledge of until I got the delinquent notice in the mail.
At first, I was confused because I was never parked parked in front of a hydrant on Hill Street, but then I remembered. On that particular day - I made a right turn onto Hill and was about to pull into a loading zone when a truck cut in. I dropped off my passenger, then pulled into the left lane to circle the block. A citation officer that must have been behind me, probably decided to take down my license plate number and issue a ticket on my moving vehicle.
A. I never received a physical ticket
b. There was no VIN number listed.
I realize that this could be construed as a grey area since technically I let a passenger out near a fire hydrant, but I decided to contest the ticket since I never parked the car, never got out, kept moving and was upset at receiving a delinquent notice a month later.
I promptly wrote a letter on January 14 requesting proof of my ticket and a review. They wrote back a letter dated January 17 saying that my ticket was valid and to respond within 21 days, however, I did not receive it until later as I was traveling and it was too late.
I received a letter on February 12 and 13 stating that my request for the hearing came too late and that my fee was now $100 instead of $45. I went to the office to inquire what these penalities were and was told:
Original ticket: $45
1st Penalty: $45 dated Jan. 19 (how can this be when their administrative ruling was dated Jan. 17 and did not reach me until much later, not to mention, I still had 21 days to request a hearing?!)
2nd Penalty: $10 dated February 9
I asked two of the representatives separately when will the next penalty be assessed, so that I could plan my budget accordingly. Neither of them could tell me. How is it that they cannot tell me when penalty fees are being assessed, why it was before the 21 days, and what amount will be assessed. Are they arbitrarily just fining people without explanation?
While I could be judged as wrong in this case, I think that there needs to be transparency and accountability in how they operate. If I'm wrong, I will of course, pay the fine. However, it bothers me that there is no one that is holding the PVB accountable for their actions. They issue the citation, levy the fine and we pay. We try to fight and wait, we pay more. The burden of proof falls soley on us and there is no proof needed on their end. It is time for a restructuring.
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