I'm beginning to think there's a bounty on my head with all this ticketing a-goin'-on...

12 January 2010

Justice Court Town of Bedford
321 Bedford Road
Bedford Hills, NY 10507

Re: ticket number [redacted]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please find enclosed a ticket left for me on January 6th. Here is the problem – that morning, around 7:07 AM (give or take a few precious minutes) I trudged through the freezing cold to pay my five dollars to park for the day, yet when I entered spot ‘113’ an invalid reading came up. I typed it again. Once again I was rebuffed. There was nothing to do aside from go back to my car and switch spots, or leave a five dollar bill under my windshield wiper (would that do, I wonder?), or to dash to the train hoping to make the 7:17 and equally hoping that I wouldn’t get ticketed for this, of all things. I chose the latter, and my hopes were dashed at about 7:35 that night.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about what might have caused this mix up. I think someone might have paid for 24 hours sometime between, oh, 6AM and 12 PM on January 5th, and then returned at any point before then, leaving their spot empty but with money still on the meter. Thus when I went to pay that fateful morning, the machine wouldn’t accept it because there was already money on the meter and unfortunately it seems that you can’t add time to an existing meter. Regardless, the meter expired by the time your diligent attendant checked at 12:30 PM leaving me with a ticket that, I would like to argue, I should not be held accountable for.

What do you think? Should I be on Law and Order, or what?

Sincerely,


Sheridan Dupre