Pleading Guilty In Court

Request a Trial and Then Plead Guilty In Court

You will pay an economic cost to successfully fight your parking ticket. You will have to take time off from work to request a trial, to file a stay application and finally to attend your trial. You will have to spend time researching the charge and the applicable by-law(s). You must determine whether the fight is worth it. More than 90% of parking ticket recipients pay the parking ticket because the cost of lost income is too high compared to the parking ticket.

If you go to court, you will find that there is a recognition that you have already paid an economic penalty just for showing up. The parking ticket fines are greatly reduced if you plead guilty. Sometimes by more than half. The conviction will not affect your driving record, driver's abstract or vehicle insurance.

If you do decide to take a lesser fine, make sure the amount is agreed to by you and the prosecutor before you appear before the justice. Otherwise the justice may fine you an amount you were not expecting.

Free Court Training

Another way to look at going to trial is that you are risking very little. Parking ticket fines are relatively low compared to more serious traffic charges and there will be no insurance rate increase or demerit points. This is a great opportunity to experience going to court. Even if you do loose, you will gain valuable experience to fight a ticket another day. Given the anti-driving legislation that this province routinely and consistently adopts, you will likely be on the receiving end of a more serious ticket one day. Practice makes perfect. There is no greater low risk training opportunity than a parking ticket.