Chicago Has Issued Thousands Of Bogus Parking Tickets

If you've driven in Chicago you've also probably received a parking ticket.

It seems like a rite of passage. You can read all the signs and plan your trip accordingly but when you come out to your car there's that orange envelope sitting on your windshield basically screaming to everyone that "This guy can't follow simple rules." You pay your 50 (FIFTY!!) bucks and say you learned your lesson.

Well you might want to hold off an writing that check because the folks at www.trapchicago.com have uncovered a flaw in Chicago's system that may have issued more than 3,000 incorrect parking tickets over the past 2 years.

The problem seems to mostly arise when drivers use a parking app to pay for their parking. Ever since the city sold the rights to parking fees to a private company the days of putting a few coins in the meter are over.  Now a days there are basically kiosks on every corner that you put money or your credit card in and you get a slip to put in your front window. If you use the app however you do not get a slip and the people who write the tickets are supposed to cross check with the app database to see if the person paid this way.

Well you can probably guess what happens when you ask people to do extra work like that. They just didn't check the database and wrote tickets. I'm guessing the majority of people who received these bogus tickets just paid the fine instead of fighting city hall.

If you think you have been on the receiving end of a bad ticket you can try to clear it up by calling 312-744-7275 or do what I do and never bring your car into the city limits of Chicago. Take the Metra people and don't forget to respect the rules of the quiet car.