In 1998, Angela Ives was about to get married, the Truman Show was released in theatres, El Nino was in full effect, and the first Harry Potter book was released.
But there's not much else Ives remembers from that year, especially not a parking ticket at an undefined location.
On Wednesday, Ives checked her mail to find a statement for two unpaid parking tickets waiting for her. “I saw this and I was confused and I looked at the dates and I'm like, 'That's 16 years ago,'" said Ives.
The first ticket was issued May 28, 1998, a $65 fee for parking in a "no parking, no stopping, fire lane." The second ticket for $60 was issued on June 25, 1999, for being "improperly parked."
Ives says she's been improperly notified. "You’re contacting me after 16 years. Did you not contact me when it happened? You couldn't find me over the last 16 years?"
The Winnipeg Parking Authority issued the following statement:
“Our system accesses MPI data on registered vehicle owner information on a ‘batch’ basis and we regularly update the information. As previously indicated, occasionally this update process results in older accounts receiving statements when they had not received any since the original notice of default conviction issued by the WPS. We do not track the ‘age’ of accounts that begin to receive statements after these regular updates are run. Under the current summary convictions act, municipal bylaw offences - including parking offence notices - are considered court ordered fines and, as such, there is no statute of limitations and the City of Winnipeg is required to collect."
That's where Ives' problem lies. She can't remember getting the tickets and can't be sure the unpaid fine is her mistake.
"It went from paper to computer. Who’s to say I didn't fall through the cracks, or other people have fallen through cracks?"
Traffic ticket specialist “Radar" Rodney Bolianaz says the city should be more transparent. “What the city should be doing is, they should be sending out a copy of that original ticket," he said. "People would like to see the evidence of what they did wrong, if they were parking or if not"
Ives called the Winnipeg Parking Authority. She was told it doesn't have the original ticket and archives would have to be accessed in hopes of finding an original copy.
Ives has 15 days to pay her ticket or contest it for a $35 fee. If she waits longer than 30 days to file an appeal of conviction, that's a $75 fee.
She's worried the city won't be able to access its archives in that amount of time.
The city has not provided the number of outstanding parking tickets.
