Meter Maid

Meter Maid

Meter-Made

Toronto, ON

Female, 30

I currently work as a Parking Enforcement Officer in the wonderful city of Toronto. I am feared, and loathed by all. I may not work in your particular city, but I'm positive that I can help give you a better understanding of what Meter Maids do. I am knowledgeable in all parking matters so ask me anything.

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103 Questions

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Last Answer on September 05, 2013

Best Rated

Do you ever wait by the meter for the time to expire (assuming it is close)? And do you give people a buffer in terms of timing (e.g. 1 min, 5 mins, etc.) before you issue a ticket? Also, do you have quotas you need to meet?

Asked by liteofc over 12 years ago

People assume that we wait around for meters/receipts to expire, but in reality we don't have that much time on our hands. If I am doing a loop of a street and I remember that a certain car is about to expire I may go back to it on my way back to my car, but I don't just sit at a car and wait to ticket it. In the city of Toronto we give a five minute grace period for expired receipts. There has recently been some talk of extending it to ten minutes, but I think that is just overkill. If people know they may need some extra time they should be parking in parking lots with a flat rate, and leaving the street parking for people who need a spot to quickly go about their business. As for your question about quotas...I answered this earlier this year. We don't have quotas in Toronto, but we do have a performance standard that we have to attain. The city has calculated the average ticket number in every area in the city, and officers assigned to these zones should be getting roughly the same amount as their counterparts on different shifts.

Has anyone ever offered you a bribe not to write them a ticket?

Asked by Anj over 12 years ago

Most of the time people jokingly offer to give me something to make their ticket go away, but there have been a few instances where people attempted to bribe me. The most common one would be to offer me money, sometimes more than what the ticket is worth. I have also been offered food and drinks (including a 6 pack of beer). When people start to haggle with me, I usually walk away to avoid this type of situation altogether.

what can u do if handicapped parking seized a year ago, went to police station but they had already sent them back what can i do to get another sticker

Asked by PP over 11 years ago

Assuming you live in Ontario you must contact the Ministry of Transportation, through Service Ontario. They are the ones who issue Accessible Parking Permits. If you indeed have a legitimate reason for obtaining a permit, and you have a doctors recomendation you should go to the MTO. Everything you need to know is on their web page:  

http://www.ontario.ca/driving-and-roads/under-what-circumstances-will-accessible-parking-permit-be-issued

There is also an online form available to you as well. 

If the permit was siezed for being misused, it's possible that you may not be able to get another permit. You would have to talk to representatives from Service Ontario for more clarification. 

Can you issue a ticket when someone is still in their car?

Asked by Lucky 7 about 12 years ago

Yes, a ticket can be issued to someone while they are in their car. Our unit policy, however is to first ask them to move. If they do not comply then we can issue the ticket. Asking them to move is not mandatory, but we do it to be nice, as some people don't realize that they are parked illegally. Most people are happy to oblige, but those who refuse to listen can still get a ticket.

A meter maid ticketed 1 car on our street with >6mths expired registration 3x over the span of a few months. She had another vehicle towed without warning for the same that had been on the street for 2 days. Is it legal to execute the law differently

Asked by whit13 over 11 years ago

It's hard for me to answer this without knowing the facts and circumstances. Specific situations require different forms of action.

There are rules that govern our job, but some vehicles may be towed over others depending on what offence they are committing. This doesn't mean that the officer is being selective on what they are towing, but maybe the second vehicle you mentioned was committing an offence that allowed for immediate towing. This can include no stopping, no standing, and even areas that block peoples driveways. 

I wouldn't say that she is executing the law differently, but maybe the rules that we follow didn't allow her to tow the first vehicle. This is because we need to have three tickets on a vehicle from three different days in order to tow it. Maybe the second car had three tickets on it which warranted her to tow the vehicle.

Without the facts I am just giving hypothetical answers. If you feel strongly about this and you live on that particular street, you can call in and get more information from our office.

Can you get arrested for unpaid parking tickets? How many tickets would that take?

Asked by aaron over 12 years ago

Parking infractions aren't important enough to have someone arrested...at least they aren't in Toronto. Parking tickets only affect an individual when they are looking to sell their vehicle, or to renew their plates. In order to get their plates renewed they must pay off their outstanding parking fines. Every time a parking officer types the license plate of a vehicle into their handheld device, they are able to see how many outstanding tickets and unpaid fines an individual has, and I have seen many individuals with hundreds of unpaid fines. In theory, when people have an unpaid ticket the city will look to a collection agency to get their money. I don't actually think this is actually in practice, as many people just continue to rack up parking tickets and avoid renewing their plates for as long as possible (AKA when they are fined by a police officer). I have heard of other cities that have a booting system in place, in order to have people pay their fines more diligently. Their car will remained booted until the city receives full payment of unpaid tickets.

Dumb question maybe but, do meter maids usually lose a lot of weight doing this job, since they're on their feet and walking around so much of the day?

Asked by Jack LL over 11 years ago

Not a dumb question. This job is a very active one. We have inviduals who walk and bike for their entire shift. A lot of people I know, myself included, have lost some weight because of the job. I find that the physical requirements of the job have allowed me to maintain my weight a lot better than people who aren't on the job.