Photo: ktvu.com
Talk about kicking someone when they’re down: a couple from San Francisco, California, woke up to find their car stripped of all wheels and placed on milk crates. Then, they got a ticket for not moving the vehicle for street sweeping.
Dan Dow tells Fox 2 KTVU that he’s more furious about the parking ticket than he is of the damage to his 2017 Toyota Corolla. The meter reader came just as he and his wife Kristan were on the phone with the police and their insurance, to report the theft of the wheels.
It was clear that the car wasn’t like that by choice of the owner, Dow says for the media outlet. The meter reader had a choice not to write the ticket, but he still did.
“He has discretion to not write a ticket,” Dow says. “He could walk by, and do I have to be, like, dead in the driver's seat with the registration pinned to my chest? Is that a reason to walk by the car and not give it a ticket?”
“This isn't a 1965 Studebaker that's in somebody's front yard that they're working on. This is a Toyota Corolla. Nobody leaves a car like this sitting on milk crates on the street,” the man adds.
His wife calls the parking ticket a “slap in the face” because they’d already had a terrible morning, what with waking up to find their car on milk crates.
Toyota San Francisco lent the couple 4 wheels so that the tow truck could take the vehicle in for repairs, without causing it even more damage. Fixing it will cost $5,000, of which the Dows will have to pay $1,000 – but it’s the $79 parking ticket that got them really, really angry.
Contacted about this, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) initially said the ticket will probably be dismissed if the couple contest it. When the story got picked up by the media, they issued an update to say it had already been dismissed.
It was clear that the car wasn’t like that by choice of the owner, Dow says for the media outlet. The meter reader had a choice not to write the ticket, but he still did.
“He has discretion to not write a ticket,” Dow says. “He could walk by, and do I have to be, like, dead in the driver's seat with the registration pinned to my chest? Is that a reason to walk by the car and not give it a ticket?”
“This isn't a 1965 Studebaker that's in somebody's front yard that they're working on. This is a Toyota Corolla. Nobody leaves a car like this sitting on milk crates on the street,” the man adds.
His wife calls the parking ticket a “slap in the face” because they’d already had a terrible morning, what with waking up to find their car on milk crates.
Toyota San Francisco lent the couple 4 wheels so that the tow truck could take the vehicle in for repairs, without causing it even more damage. Fixing it will cost $5,000, of which the Dows will have to pay $1,000 – but it’s the $79 parking ticket that got them really, really angry.
Contacted about this, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) initially said the ticket will probably be dismissed if the couple contest it. When the story got picked up by the media, they issued an update to say it had already been dismissed.
We want to update that we tracked down the proper documentation, and requested the ticket be dismissed. No action needed by the family. We understand this happens, & have a system in place for vehicle owners when their car is stolen.
— SFMTA (@sfmta_muni) July 26, 2019
Google News