How to Fight a Parking Ticket in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

If you live in the city of brotherly love or have visited the city also known as Philadelphia, you may realize that parking tickets are often given out frequently and sometimes frivolously. There are many ways you can go about taking care of a parking ticket and many times, you may not have to pay it.

I have been in many situation where the ticket I was issued was ludicrous. For example, when I first moved here, I was parked on a residential street and was issued a $101 ticket for "blocking mass transit". There weren't any signs prohibiting my parking and there was no sign that mass transit would be coming down that street. I paid the ticket, but knew something wasn't right. The final straw was getting a notice in the mail for a ticket that was allegedly issued to me. The notice included a $20 late fee for paying late, but the original ticket was never left on my car. It wasn't the first time it had happened either.

I quickly did some research and found that you have a few options when you receive a parking ticket that you would like to contest.

1) There is a Director of Customer Service for the Philadelphia Parking Authority. You can contact her to inquire about the validity of a ticket you received (for example, I received two tickets in the same exact place for the same violation. This is not legal. I contacted the director and she took care of the extra ticket.)

Contact information:

Dawn Jackson

Director of Customer Service

Philadelphia Parking Authority

3101 Market Street

Philadelphia, PA 19104

DJackson@philapark.org

2) There is a Public Advocate for the parking authority. This person is an advocate for the people. When I received a late fee for the ticket that wasn't left on my car, I contacted both the director of customer service and the public advocate. The director of customer service said I would have to go to court. I was about to give up, but the public advocate responded to my letter informing me that he went to court for me and took care of the ticket. If you have an issue with a ticket, I highly suggest you contact the public advocate.

Contact information:

Frank DeAngelis

Public Advocate

Philadelphia Parking Authority