I was helping my friend park his car in Achrafieh and I suggested he uses one of the Park Meter spots. We purchased a coupon at 9:18am that lasts until 12:18 as you can see below. When we went back to renew it around noon, we were surprised to see that we got a fine.
I called the Park Meter Customer Line to ask about the fine. They answered me that the coupon was probably not showing clearly or put upside down and that I have to wait for the pictures taken by the officer that will be available the next day. I called the next day and as it turns out, the coupon was apparently not showing clearly. I couldn’t confirm if what she was saying was true as I didn’t see the pictures but I told her I still have the coupon (see above) and it is a valid one.
I thought she’d ask me to email it to her or bring the paper to their offices but instead, she told me they can’t do anything about it and I still have to pay the fine. Her argument was that the regulations are clear. Assuming she’s right and I misplaced the coupon, why can’t they cancel the fine if I submit the valid coupon? What sort of logic is that?
The exact same incident happened with me. and not only that! i live in an area with no public parking lots and parking meters everywhere. at once incident i stayed home for 2 days (sick) and i kept feeding the parking meter every 2 hours (that was the max period of time in these machines) till i finally decided to just put 2 hours X 4. so i can pay for the entire day. the next day i noticed that i was fined. (they were clearly showing) i called them and apparently the concept of these parking meters isn’t to actually pay for our greedy municipality but to actually prevent you from parking for more than 2 hours! i asked her what am i supposed to do while i’m home/work. am i supposed to keep running to my car every 2 hours. i’m not sure if the municipality is trying to force healthy 5 min work out every 2 hours per day, or they’re just greedy as f*** and they’re doing this on purpose. at the end up i ended up paying the 10 000 l.l fine plus the 2 * 4 parking tickets.
Looks like it’s cheaper (and far easier) to park without a ticket stub and then pay the penalty later. Hey–they’re begging for it!
I agree this ain’t fair, but regulations are the same even in europe. If its not clear or u place it on the wrong side of the car u will get fined. So don’t be harsh, its just another way to rip people off, but I assure you it happens even in the most developed countries.
You can contest the fine, and if you are right they cancel the fine.
I did it once in France.
They are idiots that’s why. I got a fine for being 4 minutes late (on the instructions of the payment station it says you have a grace period of 10 minutes). And another time I got a fine in the same situation as you, I had even come back earlier than I was supposed to. (This one happened in Ashrafieh, right next to centre sofil).
@Dr A Badawi. Completely agree, but in a developed country out also have decent public transport and other things working “right”. Plus the money would be put to proper use :p
I once bought it but forgot to put it in the car. When I got back I saw the officer issuing a ticket and I immediately took out my coupon and showed it to him. Too late, he gave me a ticket anyway and I had to pay the fine. :/
Have to agree with Dr. Badawi about the regulations although not about the ripping off. If it says quite clearly that the coupon must be visible and legible then that is what it has to be.
The parking system of maximum 2 hours (in some areas it’s 3)is designed to be fair to everybody, so that everyone can get a chance to park for a bit to run their errands, etc.
This is how municipalities make some nice extra cash – from experience in London, traffic wardens (fascist parking officers) have quotas to meet. If it is getting close to the end of the month and they haven’t met their quota, you can be guaranteed that they will ticket you for the tiniest, illogical infraction.
And as Aline says, other countries have public transport that works and the money collected goes to legitimate municipality expenditures.
What a nice day, I’m agreeing with almost everyone!
How would you prove that it is you who paid for the ticket and did not take it from another car parked in the area?
Same thing happened to me ! Could it be a coinscidence ?!
The officers of the Park meters have organized a mafia in downtown Beirut with the Valet Parking guys. The valet parking reserves the street with their cars and mobilette and the Park meter officers are not charging them or issuing any tickets for them. You cannot park there as they don’t allow you unless you use their service.
Khalsna ba2a!!! this country is a joke…