Peter Jones didn't know he's breaking the law.
The River Heights homeowner parked his long boat trailer on the street a week ago to get it ready to take to the lake for May long weekend. However, large recreational vehicles like motorhomes, RVs, campers, boats and trailers can only be parked on the street for one hour to free up space.
Beyond that owners could face a ticket.
"Well an hour, I can understand if it's out in front of someone's house for a week or four weeks or a couple of months different situation, but one hour we're just doing our business trying to get by,” Jones said.
To give homeowners more time to load up their gear, last September the city made a change to the rules.
People can apply for a $50 permit to stay longer than an hour.
"Obviously you can't get one of those pieces of equipment ready in an hour, so we need to come up with some legal way to allow them to park it on the street for more than an hour,” said Colin Stewart from the Winnipeg Parking Authority.
The city has sold 15 permits this year. One is good for three days of parking, but you can only buy four permits per year.
If you don't get one, a fine is worth $70, half that amount if you pay early.
The city said it typically issues 2,000 fines per year.
The bylaw also applies to construction trailers and vehicles, where no work is being done.
"What the bylaw is really intended to do is address is you know the guy who takes the dump truck home from the job site when it's easier to drive the dumnp truck home than it is to go back to the yard and he does that for three weeks straight,” Stewart said.
