Confusion from Edmontonians who got tickets after street was cleared during parking ban

An Edmonton man was left confused and frustrated after he was ticketed for parking on a residential street during a parking ban after his road had been cleared.

The Phase 2 parking ban that has been in effect since Tuesday means no parking on residential and industrial roads. However, the city says once crews have come by and cleared the road, residents are free to park on their roads.

However, Tim Hawrylak said he parked on the road in front of his house in the Kirkness neighbourhood after the road was graded and still got a $250 ticket.

“It’s a bit ridiculous,” he said.

1:17 Westmount residents complain about lack of warning before receiving parking ban tickets

Hawrylak said he moved his vehicle onto his driveway after getting a notification on Saturday crews were going to be coming through his neighbourhood. On Sunday morning at 3 a.m., his doorbell camera captured a grader coming down his street and clearing snow.

The next morning, he parked his car in the street again after leaving the house, but got a citation that afternoon and only found out when the tow truck driver knocked on his door to tell him he was about to get towed.

“I think if they had the person that was issuing tickets out at the same time as the people that were doing the cleanup, then they would have caught this area a little bit better,” said Hawrylak.

He showed the video of the grader coming through to the tow truck driver and the driver didn’t take away any of the other cars in the area.

2:01 City of Edmonton promises better snow clearing this winter

Hawrylak said he was told by the person handing out tickets that crews would be back in his area, but they haven’t been back since.

He did everything he was supposed to but still ended up with a ticket, and that hurts, Hawrylak said.

“We signed up for the emails, we got the notification, we made sure we were out of the way and we made sure (the roads were) clear before we went back out,” Hawrylak said.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he will be following up with administration on why tickets were given out when a resident seemingly did nothing wrong.

“It’s always disappointing to hear that people are getting tickets, but we try to notify as effectively as possible (with) signage before the graders go in,” he said.

A spokesperson for the city wasn’t available for interviews, but said in a statement the number of neighbourhood signs have increased and advised residents that crews will be coming by soon.

The city is urging residents to sign up for text and email notifications and encourages residents to look at the Snow and Ice Control map on the city’s website.

Global News asked how many tickets were issued since the start of the ban but the city said that information won’t be available until the end of the current parking ban.