Can you beat a San Francisco parking ticket if it has no VIN number on it?
On the page electroboy linked to, there’s a PDF of a sample completed citation. You’ll notice that although there’s a spot for the VIN on the citation, it isn’t even one of the notated numbers. In the handwritten example on that same page, there isn’t a place to note the VIN at all. Two things: That evidence would suggest that a VIN isn’t necessary for a legal citation, and it’s easy enough to contest a citation that you might as well give it a try (and ONLY say that you’re contesting it because there’s no VIN on the citation; don’t go into ANY detail about how you were only upstairs for 3 minutes and you weren’t really blocking the driveway, because that’s a surefire way to lose). You won’t be punished for contesting, so why not? On the other hand, considering the dire fiscal situation of San Francisco, perhaps you might just own up to the fact that you’re at fault, you deserve the ti
Can you beat a “blocking sidewalk” ticket in San Francisco if they say “can not read” VIN number No. Why would you? Many vehicles may have unreadable or unidentifiable VIN numbers, plus it sounds like there is other identifiable information on the ticket. What are you going to claim in court? That the ticket lacks a VIN means you were not improperly parked and thus innocent of the allegations? It doesn’t work that way, sorry. If you’re going to contest it you’re going to have to convince a magistrate that your car was absolutely not blocking the public causeway, not even a tiny, tiny bit. It doesn’t sound like you can do that (because you were parked slightly on the sidewalk.) Whether you, with your expert opinion and nuanced ability to gauge distances and space, left “plenty of room in front of car for pedestrians to walk by” is moot.
That the ticket lacks a VIN means you were not improperly parked and thus innocent of the allegations? It doesn’t work that way, sorry. Guilt or innocence has nothing to do with it. The city has to follow certain procedures when issuing tickets and if they don’t, the tickets are invalid. Follow the instructions on the ticket for protesting it, see here. Explain that key information was missing from your ticket and that you feel it was improperly issued. Don’t offer excuses like “I just ran up for a minute”, which essentially admits guilt.
