Paid for Parking, Received Citation Notice in mail (not on car), now owe $65?

Write to your member of the BART Board of Directors. It is, after all, an election year.

Just don't pay. If they threaten to take you to court, go to court and show the judge you paid, and that there was no note on your car.

Private parking tickets don't go on your license.

$65 Citation Dismissed!!!!!!

I am proud to report that the citation which was issued to car on January 25, 2010 has been dismissed. The process to resolution and JUSTICE:

1. Received Notice of Delinquent Citation, $35. Strange, since I had not received the ticket on my car.
2. Wrote 1 letter disputing the ticket and providing evidence of payment (account history of BART EZ Rider showing deduction.)
3. Three months pass, no word, assume citation is dismissed. Check online, citation is now $65. Write second letter.
4. Receive a second Notice of Delinquent Citation, now $65, which stated appeal was not received within the 21 day appeal time.
5. Call Citation Process Center, spoke to three different representatives, finally a supervisor who left a voicemail stating that there was nothing that could be done and no one else I could speak with. Last conversation I had with a representative at the CPC I stated that their response was unacceptable and I wanted to speak with someone to resolve this issue. I was informed that I had to pay the citation and that there was not a remedy.
6. Wrote Board of Directors at BART, thanks to a reply to my post.
7. Received a response within one day stating that there would be an investigation.
8. Received a phone call the next day from the Mr. Morgan, Police Administrative Supervisor at BART requesting specific documentation.
9. Within an hour of sending Mr. Morgan just two documents 1) the citation and 2) EZ Rider account history, I received a phone call from Mr. Morgan apologizing for the oversight and stating that my citation has been dismissed.

I later received an email stating the following:

"I have investigated the issue with the parking citation you received on 01/25/2010. Our ticket processing center did not receive your first notice of appeal. When they received your second notice of appeal on
05/17/2010 the 21 days plus 14 day grace period in which the appeal needed to be in by had expired. The citation was upheld due to the appeal not being timely. If an appeal is not received within the required 35 days it is not forwarded to the police department for review. Had your appeal been received within the required time frame we would have dismissed it based on your EZ Rider account summary you provided. With the information you have provided it is clear that the citation you received was issued in error. I have dismissed your citation and late fee in the interest of justice. I am also going to inquire with the citation processing center to see why you were not referred to the police department in order to seek a remedy to your situation. We have access to recordings of their phone calls with patrons regarding citations and I will be reviewing your case with them so that we do not have a similar problem arise in the future. As for the citation itself, the Community Service Officer may have not seen the EZ Rider hang tag in the window, or the payment report the officer prints to write this type of citation was printed prior to your arrival. If you should ever get another BART parking citation you are now able to appeal the citation on-line at www.citationprocessingcenter.com . This on-line appeal feature will also allow you to submit supporting documentation such as your EZ rider account balance and other supporting documentation. If you should have any other concerns or issues with parking at BART please feel free to contact me. I appreciate your patronage of our system and hope you continue to use BART for your transportation needs."

I hope this information helps all who have run into a similar unfortunate situation. I understand that citations can be issued in error and I have no problem disputing the citations. Errors happen, we are all human. The problem lies when there is evidence that will not even be considered because "there is nothing that can be done." There is ALWAYS something that can be done, you just have to keep pressing forward and do a bit of research. Without finding this forum I probably would have never written the Board of Directors and who knows how long it would have taken to get the citation dismissed. Thank you again to all who gave advice. I really appreciate it!

Jennifer B. Perez