A woman who made a mistake while feeding a parking meter in Saint-Jérôme has won her case at the Court of Appeal, and that may open up a whole new way for lots of motorists to contest parking tickets.
La Presse reports that 56-year old Louise Sauvé thought she was putting 75 cents into the correct meter in front of a snack bar in December of 2014, but when she emerged from the restaurant after enjoying a poutine, she found a ticket on her windshield. That's when she discovered she'd filled the wrong meter.
She contested the $43 ticket on the grounds that she'd made a good faith attempt to comply with the parking regulations.
Until now, the courts have not permitted people to contest tickets for that kind of offense by claiming they made a mistake.
Saint-Jérôme is considering an appeal, which may come as a relief to other cities worried about a flood of parking tickets being contested on the basis of a mistake made in good faith.