If you have received a parking ticket by the City of Ottawa, but believe you should not have been ticketed, you can actually dispute your parking ticket and avoid paying any fines!

You can only dispute the parking ticket if you have not paid the fine, cause if you have paid the fine then it would mean that you have pled guilty for the violation.

There are two ways you can dispute the fines –

Request a review of your Parking Ticket

You can ask the City to review your parking ticket. There can be reasons why you believe you should not have been ticketed. For example – You had to park the car during an emergency and had no option to move the car.

For your parking violation to be considered – you would need to provide your infraction number (from the ticket), date of infraction, license plate number, country and a brief description of why you are requesting a review. You would also need to provide your name, and address.

Request a Trial

You could provide a notice of intent to appear at the Tribunal. For your request to be considered, make sure you provide all the necessary details including your infraction details, and attach all the evidence documents.

• When you request a trial, you can also have someone else represent you.
• It is recommended that you request a review before going for a trial.

You can request review of parking ticket here or trial using their notice of intent form – https://forms.ottawa.ca/en/form/ics/service-ottawa/notice-of-intention-to-appear

How successful would your review request be?

Personally, I have had my parking tickets reviewed before by the city and have been able to get half off. In my case, I had paid for the initial parking however due to delays at the health clinic, I wasn’t able to get back to my car on time.

If it’s your first infraction, they might reduce your parking fine by half even if you were at fault. Chances of getting the parking ticket completely waived are less but really depends on what evidence you provide and how strong is your case.