Someone Put A Yellow Gum Pack On Their Car & A Toronto Parking Officer Didn't Fall For It
It definitely doesn't look like a parking ticket!
Toronto parking enforcement officer Erin Urquhart. Right: Yellow gum pack on a car in Toronto.
Erin Urquhart, a Toronto Parking Enforcement Officer, posted a video on Twitter exposing a person who had parked illegally in Toronto. The driver had possibly tried to trick the officer by putting a yellow Juicy Fruit gum pack on their windshield, right where a parking ticket might go.
"I don't know if it's just me, or if this person is trying to trick a parking officer with a pack of Juicy gum on their windshield that's yellow," Urquhart says as she approaches the car in the video.
\u201cNot saying this driver put this yellow juicy fruit gum pack on their windshield to mask as a ticket but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised. Definitely a new one if that was the case \ud83d\ude33\ud83e\udd23 #lifeofaPEO\u201d— PEO Erin Urquhart (@PEO Erin Urquhart) 1669169858
Urquhart told Narcity she spotted the car on Monday, November 21, on Webster Avenue in Yorkville.
The vehicle was in an area where parking isn't allowed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and it was 4 p.m. So, unfortunately, the driver would have returned to find another yellow item on their windshield.
The parking enforcement officer told Narcity that "this was definitely a first to see a random object or trash even that is yellow in colour to possibly mask [as] a ticket."
"I've seen people try to use old tickets they've gotten, or even worse, people take a ticket off someone else's car to make it look like they already got a ticket to attempt to get away [with] parking illegally," she added.
"Other than the classic use-an-old-ticket 'trick,' this is the weirdest thing I've come across for sure."
The parking officer said she likes to make things clear when drivers try to trick her by making it apparent that she didn't fall for it.
"I always put the new ticket on the other side of the windshield, or I place them neatly beside each other," she said.
For those who don't know, the rule is that if a car is illegally parked, it can't be double-tagged within 24 hours of a previous ticket if it hasn't moved. But if the vehicle moves and returns to the same spot, then it could be.
"Usually when we see old tickets they are days, weeks, sometimes even years old. Not usually from the same day/location," Urquhart explained.
Officers have even found tickets so old they didn't even look the same, she said. "We had changed our ticket design and paper and everything," she said.
So Torontonians, know that parking enforcement officers are aware of your tricks and it might be difficult to fool them.