City of Windsor cancels parking tickets issued after 6 p.m. due to outdated meter labels

The City of Windsor says it has cancelled all 58 parking tickets issued to people in the past week who were parked at expired meters listing outdated hours of enforcement.

It has also paused issuing parking tickets after 6 p.m. for one more week while the city puts new stickers on all of its 1,440 meters. 

"We appreciate the public's patience and co-operation as we finalize this update and we remain committed to ensuring a smooth transition," said Hayley Zvaniga, corporate marketing and communications officer for the city.

The move comes after CBC News reported on the issue on Friday. One man expressed his anger over the $30.50 tickets.

Syed Hassan said his wife received one at 6:17 p.m. while parked at a meter whose posted hours of enforcement were 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Windsor city council approved a change to parking meter hours of enforcement earlier this year that would see them extended to 7 p.m. starting June 1.

A city spokesperson told CBC that most meters had been updated to reflect the new timeframe and that "there may be a small number of meters that were inadvertently missed."

But CBC checked out parking meters near the University of Windsor, where Hassan's wife received her ticket and found that none of their labels had been updated to reflect the new hours.

CBC checked meters again on Monday and found the old enforcement hours had been removed from most of them, but new times had not yet been posted on many.

"There's been a difficulty in the transition, and we certainly acknowledge that," said Coun. Renaldo Agostino, who represents the downtown ward.

"And the people shouldn't be paying for parking tickets if that information is not correct."

If meters aren't updated by next Monday, Agostino said he expects the pause on ticketing to continue.

"There's gotta be some type of signage, whether it's stickers on the meters or signs on the street poles."