Vijay Thankey has lived on Woodmont Green Southwest in Woodbine for 30 years and says everyone has always parked at an angle in front of the homes on his cul-de-sac.
Thursday morning, he woke up to find 25 cars with tickets because they weren’t parallel parked against the curb.
“There is no sign on the cul-de-sac that you are to park parallel and if you did park parallel here in this cul-de-sac, there’d be no room,” Thankey said. “I don’t know where people are going to park their cars.”
READ MORE: Parking tickets- which ones you must pay and which ones you don’t
The Calgary Parking Authority says they received a complaint from someone in the area and when an officer investigated, the authority issued tickets for “angle parking where not permitted.”
“Under Calgary’s Parking Bylaws, all vehicles must be parallel parked with their right wheels to the curb unless otherwise directed to via posted signage,” the CPA said in a statement.
“We can appreciate why residents may want to and decide to angle park in their cul-de-sacs; however, if we are called to investigate, we are obligated to issue a parking ticket under the current bylaws.”
The CPA also pointed out the bylaw applies to every city street and is not specific to just cul-de-sacs. Posted signs are not required.
Other neighbours like Susanne Huggard, who didn’t know the rules, feel it’s not fair to be so heavy-handed.
“I think warning letters,” she said. “I think educating people is probably the first step.”
The parking authority says its officers don’t go out into neighbourhoods actively looking for violations unless they get a complaint.
Residents on Woodmont Green are getting together to contact their councillor and appeal the tickets.
Comments