Someone Got A $400 Parking Ticket In Prince Edward County & Some Are Blaming Tourists
"$400 is crazy high, but it needs to be high enough to be effective."
Prince Edward County waterfront. Right: A no parking sign.
Watch where you park for those boardwalk views, folks! Someone was dinged with a $400 parking ticket in Prince Edward County, and those fines will last until the end of October.
"Criminal parking tickets in PEC," said a Redditor in a now-deleted post about the pricey ticket they received Sunday afternoon.
Some tickets in the county were raised to $400 during the summer months last year to help deter illegal parking at some beaches and parks during its busy tourist season.
Areas with the most significant fines include roads across from Sandbanks Provincial Park, County Road 13 across from Little Bluff Conservation Area, and County Road 7 at the Lake on the Mountain Provincial Park.
But some folks are pointing fingers at tourists, who seem to be flocking to the county since the pandemic.
"The increase for the tickets is directly related to the insanity that was brought upon the county through the summer of 2020," another Reddit user said. "It was pure chaos, garbage everywhere, people using private lawns to park on, people using those same lawns as washroom facilities, it was wild."
Another person shared their frustration over tourists overtaking Ontario hotspots like Dundas.
"In 2019, I was on a show where one of our shoot days was on the escarpment close to Dundas," they wrote. "We attracted a lot of attention from concerned neighbours walking through the park and they begged us not to publicize that it was shot in Hamilton. tourists and influencers were coming in droves, even then."
But one Redditor had a different opinion in mind and said, "$400 is crazy high, but it needs to be high enough to be effective."
Narcity reached out to the original ticket poster and they declined to comment.
Don't fret, locals, because if you live in Prince Edward County, you can skip some of those fines for summer. The municipality is offering up free summer passes that give locals access to Wellington Rotary Beach.
Up for grabs until July 26, the pass will also help you skip parking fines at Bakker Road and Huyck's Point Road. So, get it while you still can!