Do you have to pay for parking tickets issued by private lots?

It’s a question that can cause quite the debate do you have to pay your tickets from a private parking lot if you bring that up at the next party you go to generally there’ll be two groups those that pay and those that don’t Lauren Walter was part of the ladder group she

Had a job where there was no employee parking so she made the decision to park in the private lot across the street and to not pay I was a summer student I was in university that’s like more than there was being paid an hour um if I

Were to have paid for parking every day it would have cost me 10 like more than 10 times would it cost me to get my car back from the tow yard so for me it was a no-brainer she ended up getting towed twice but says cost-wise she still came

Out on top obviously I didn’t feel great about it but mathematically it made sense before you go and follow Lauren’s lead and ignore your parking tickets you do need to know there is a big difference between parking in a private lot versus City for one the city has

More power to enforce the payment of parking in 2023 Edmonton City Enforcement Officers handed out 100,000 tickets to unlucky drivers if the ticket isn’t paid the city issues a court summons to the registered owner and if the fine still goes unpaid it doesn’t just go away the next time the owner

Goes to register their vehicle it’s on file waiting for them universities often have their own rules as well the University of Alberta has the power to tow vehicles and if you’re a student they can withhold your transcripts and diplomas but when it comes to privately owned Lots like imp Park and indigo well

Private parking they don’t have those same Powers um and so in terms of getting threatening letters to have to pay or collections um those are some steps that some private parking places take but not all the time the most likely outcome if you choose not to pay

Is a towed car as for an impact on your credit score certain things are allowed to automatically go on your credit like utility bills anything where you’re extending credit um but it’s not the same in the case of paying to park because you’re not getting a credit

Check and they’re not lending you money to park so I I would say no it wouldn’t go on your credit rating and unless um there’s actually a judgment that’s awarded against you Bersa wasn’t able to find any record of court cases involving unpaid tickets what she says could be

Because of the cost around filing a claim basically it cost companies more to take you to court than they’d get from the ticket but she did say that collections agencies can’t pursue you for debts that are more than 2 years old I reached out to some of the major

Private parking companies that operate in Edmonton like imp Park diamond and indigo but I never heard anything back so what do we know well if you want to avoid all of this you could just pay for parking and avoid these tickets but if you do like a little bit of a gamble

Worst case scenario you get towed but how you want to proceed is up to you Emily Fitzpatrick CBC News Edmonton

We’ve all been there. An appointment runs late or you enter your licence plate wrong and you return to your car to find a ticket under your wiper blade. Someone in your social circle may advise ignoring the ticket. But what happens if you do? And how much power do private parking companies have to make you pay?

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