so i get a court notice - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

jims69camaro · 07-23-2007, 08:32 AM

for failure to appear. for a parking violation in fort lee. except i wasn't in fort lee. so what the hell is going on? it's not like my car is easily mistaken for some other car. maybe the cop writing tickets entered the wrong plate #? i can't figure this out. i called this morning and they've scheduled me for court on the 29th at 5:00, which coincides with my permanency hearing at 9:00 a.m., so hopefully that gets over so i can get up to fort lee (one hour twenty-two minutes from here) in time for their court. certainly wouldn't want a second failure to appear for something i didn't do.

Knipps · 07-23-2007, 08:37 AM

i'd think if they entered the wrong plate # you'd be able to tell it was the wrong car..
somehow have them ask what car the ticket was written for?

that's messed up

jims69camaro · 07-23-2007, 08:47 AM

court clerk asked me what kind of car it was. the thing is, if they entered the wrong plate number and didn't pay attention to the car when it came up, then they were just copying the information from the computer to the ticket. there's just no way my car was in fort lee that day, or any other day. i doubt i've even driven through fort lee, unless it was on the way to the g. washington bridge.

Savage_Messiah · 07-23-2007, 12:41 PM

lol fort rhee

transamkid · 07-23-2007, 01:02 PM

that happened to us, said our 30ft camper was parked on a st. in nyc. idiot cop wrote down wrong plate number. the ticket was 300 bucks. we just took a pic of our plates and camper where it was and they said forget it

1_Hot_SOM_WS6 · 07-23-2007, 11:35 PM

Wow thats crazy. Good luck getting all that fixed. Now it sounds like its ur word against their's. I wonder what you would need to justifiy that you werent there when the ticket was issued. Did you happen to be working or anything at the time?

j0n · 07-24-2007, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jims69camaro

...which coincides with my permanency hearing at 9:00 a.m.,...

readdddddddddddddddddddddddddd

nj85z28 · 07-24-2007, 04:25 AM

hah i got one of those from the city of philiadelphia one time..except ive never been there! i had to call them up and explain that to the moron on the phone. they "investigated" and dropped it

jims69camaro · 07-24-2007, 05:57 AM

how do i prove i was never there? well, it was may 19th at 6:00 p.m., which was a saturday. i was with my wife, here at home, but they might think she is biased in her position that i was here with her. i did go to visit my step-son in bordentown, but we were home by 3:00 p.m. we wouldn't have been doing anything else that day, nothing that would give us a date/time stamp that would definitively say we weren't there. it would have been much better if it had happened before may 9th, which is when i got my car back on the road, but no such luck. if anyone has any ideas, i am open.

qwikz28 · 07-24-2007, 07:03 AM

lol if its a parking violation, and they don't have any of the info on the car down, then they have a pretty weak case. i say go and fight it.

but unfortunately, sometimes its less of a hassle to just pay it than to fight it. its a sad truth. our system works by taking small amounts from a wide array of people. therefore its worth no ones time to complain and fight the system.

jims69camaro · 07-24-2007, 07:11 AM

what's it going to cost me in gas? my time is worthless right now, as i have a lot of it and not doing much with it. they are trying to extort $38, and i have that feeling in my gut that if i don't fight it, it will be one of those things i will regret. better to try and fail than not try at all - if you don't try then you have zero chance of succeeding.

i get your point - some people wouldn't have though twice about it and just put $38 in an envelope addressed to fort lee municipal court.

88Z-Man · 07-24-2007, 04:00 PM

I got hit with a ticket from NYC several years back for double parking. Only thing is I was never in the city, the car was only a few months old. The copy of the ticket was for a early 90's sunbird and I had a 2001 Mercedes. So it was obviously written with the wrong plate number. It took like 3 months to clear it up. No matter what I did they would not believe they were wrong. Sent copies of the reg pics on the car everything. The lease company had to get involved, what a mess. After all that time the must have finally given up and admitted it was 2 different cars. So I feel for you. Fight it man!

nj85z28 · 07-24-2007, 04:29 PM

I'm telling you, just call them up and tell them the deal. It happens all the time. There was just a story on the news about it a few months ago. Think of how many suckers just send that in without thinking twice. When i called up Philly about my ticket the lady had it cleared up within a week or two. No big deal

79T/A · 07-24-2007, 08:09 PM

Have them send you a copy of the ticket. Several years ago, my mother opened a piece of mail from the New Brunswick Municipal Court and burst into tears when she found a warrant for her arrest for failing to appear! The offense? A parking ticket. My mom NEVER goes to New Brunswick, so once she calmed down and called the court, it turned out that a digit had been entered incorrectly when the court clerk was reading the cop's bad hand writing. Fight it. Bring the registration and insurance for the car, as well as a picture of the car with the plates on it.

Tru2Chevy · 07-24-2007, 10:27 PM

I got a notice a few weeks ago from EZ Pass for failing to pay a toll. The picture they sent me was of my old Jeep, and the date was about two weeks after it had been totaled. Turns out I had forgotten to pull the plates off of it when I went to get the last of my stuff out of it, and the tow truck driver taking it the scrapyard went through the EZ Pass lane. Once I spent a half an hour on hold to talk to an actual person at the Violations office, I had the matter cleared up in a few minutes.

I say fight it Jim, like you said - what have you got to lose besides a few bucks worth of gas?

- Justin

jims69camaro · 07-25-2007, 07:55 AM

oh, i will fight it, for sure. but i'm still wondering how to convince them i was never there... it's basically my word against theirs. i have to find out what type of equipment they use to do the tickets. i mean, if it's one of those handhelds that communicates with the computer in the car, then the cop who entered the plate number should've realized that it was the wrong car.

unfortunately, if the guy who got the ticket was paying attention and read the ticket, he would've realized immediately that it wasn't for his car and most likely ditched it. it's sad, but people only think of themselves and he most likely thought he was getting away with his parking violation - so he didn't have to pay. forget about the poor soul who was named on the ticket - me - all he knows is that he doesn't have to pay it.

BonzoHansen · 07-25-2007, 08:37 AM

There has to be someone you can call, although it is just a rinky-dink NJ town, so maybe not. Maybe the town prosecutor's office. We got one from Philadelphia a few months ago. A few phones calls got it crushed. The ticket was for a green saturn. We have a blue pilot. Not quite the same.

jims69camaro · 07-25-2007, 08:42 AM

i spoke with the clerk, and she said all disputes have to be addressed in front of the judge. so it looks like i have no choice.

BonzoHansen · 07-25-2007, 08:44 AM

I'd still try to contact the prosecutor.

grandkodiak · 07-25-2007, 09:09 AM

tickets should have the car manufacturer, body type, color, lisence plate, time of offense and expiration date on it, that way if you do misstype the plate, all the other info can be used to determin the mistake.

jims69camaro · 07-25-2007, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grandkodiak

tickets should have the car manufacturer, body type, color, lisence plate, time of offense and expiration date on it, that way if you do misstype the plate, all the other info can be used to determin the mistake.

which is why i can't understand why i got the ticket to begin with. unless the dolt wasn't paying attention to the info on the screen.

grandkodiak · 07-25-2007, 10:19 PM

not even that, you must write it from what you see physically... and if it doesnt match what comes back with the plate data, then it becomes a whole different storey, then they can punch the vin and see if its been plate-swapped or if its stolen etc. if the data doesnt match up, go to court, itll be no contest.

jims69camaro · 08-29-2007, 09:09 PM

well, it ends up i didn't have to get into the technical aspect of how they record the plate number for a parking ticket. i went to see the prosecutor, told him i'd never been to fort lee and he started writing up the dismissal. as an added bonus, i threw in that if i ever had been to fort lee, you wouldn't find me parked at a meter, i'd be in a blue space - and my disabled ID hit the table in front of him. it's nice to feel vindicated.

WildBillyT · 08-29-2007, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jims69camaro

well, it ends up i didn't have to get into the technical aspect of how they record the plate number for a parking ticket. i went to see the prosecutor, told him i'd never been to fort lee and he started writing up the dismissal. as an added bonus, i threw in that if i ever had been to fort lee, you wouldn't find me parked at a meter, i'd be in a blue space - and my disabled ID hit the table in front of him. it's nice to feel vindicated.

Nice! I'm glad it worked out for you.

grandkodiak · 08-29-2007, 10:42 PM

Sometimes the system actually works even one someone messes up