No ‘get out of jail free cards’ for out-of-province parking offenders as Toronto set to tow
Posted January 26, 2015 12:05 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An out-of-province licence plate is no longer a “get out of jail free card” for parking violations in Toronto, Mayor Tory announced on Monday.
As part of his ongoing crusade against gridlock, Tory has announced a new policy allowing the city to tow repeat offenders for parking violations, even if they are registered in a different province.
“We’ve all seen these vehicles driving around … willfully flouting our laws and selfishly blocking traffic,” Tory said.
“A tow truck awaits them.”
Previously the city had few options for enforcing parking rules on vehicles registered in a different province.
Now the city can tow vehicles with three or more outstanding tickets, as well as collect impound and towing fees.
The same policy was enacted last year for all Ontario vehicles with a backlog of unpaid Toronto parking tickets.
Provincial regulations still limit the city’s ability to collect fines from parking tickets.
But Tory hopes the threat of a tow on the fourth offence will prompt more offenders to pay their fines, providing a boon to city coffers.
Though Tory did not name names, he said there are some businesses operating in the city with out-of-town plates and piles of parking tickets under their windshield wipers.
