Video of city vehicle parked illegally goes viral
St. Catharines is reminding its bylaw officers to play by the rules after a video of a city vehicle parked in an accessible parking spot went viral on Facebook.
Resident Chris Bobro was driving through the Fairview Mall parking lot on Geneva Street Sunday when he spotted the city marked vehicle with its four-way flashers parked partly in the accessible spot.
“I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Is that guy parked in the handicapped spot?’”
Bobro, who has an accessible parking permit for himself, used his phone to record the bylaw officer giving a ticket to someone for parking in another accessible spot.
By Wednesday, the video posted to Facebook had been viewed more than 20,000 times.
“It aggravates me a lot because it happens more than you think,” Bobro said Wednesday, explaining he’s noticed spots at malls and restaurants are often taken by people who don’t have a permit displayed.
“I’ve had to be the guy who parked on the other end of the mall to walk in and it’s sometimes rough. But when you see parking enforcement doing that and then writing someone a ticket for doing the exact same thing, it kind of frustrates you a lot.”
The video got mixed responses from social media users, some of whom defended the bylaw officer for “doing his job,” and slammed Bobro for “harassing” him by shouting questions on the recording. Others panned the officer’s action and said it is an example of “the law always above the law.”
St. Catharines director of financial management services Kristine Douglas, who oversees parking enforcement, said parking in the accessible space isn’t standard protocol.
City staff, including parking enforcement, are required to follow the rules of the road when they are working out of their city vehicles, she said. They can park in fire lanes with their flashers on but not in accessible spots.
She said the situation has been reviewed with the officer, who had pulled over to check eight accessible parking spots in the lot.
“We’re also using it as an opportunity for learning for all of our parking enforcement officers, to remind them to ensure that they are operating their vehicle appropriately,” Douglas said.
The city has nine parking enforcement officers, plus one corporal and one sergeant who provide oversight. They issued tickets for 28,633 parking violations in the past 12 months from July 1 to July 1.
The violations included expired meters, parking without a permit and more.
Douglas said in addition to public areas, the officers patrol private property like the mall lot to enforce city parking enforcement bylaws related to fire prevention and accessibility. Accessible spots must have signs with the wheelchair symbol to be enforced — pavement markings are a courtesy.
It’s not the first time parking in an accessible space has landed someone in hot water on social media. A photo snapped of a Niagara Regional Police cruiser and posted to Facebook in 2015 sparked a review by the service.