The ‘fix’ is in on traffic tix
City alters 220K summonses to cover errors: watchdog
The city has been changing “hundreds of thousands” of parking tickets online in an unfair — and possibly illegal — attempt to fix flawed summonses before they are dismissed in court, a driver advocate charges.
A ticket that includes an error — such as an omission or inaccuracy in describing the car, the location or even the issuing police officer’s or traffic agent’s name — can be thrown out by a judge.
But tickets ddrivers find oon their windshields don’t always match the version they find uploaded to the city’s Department of Finance Web site, where a driver goes to fight or pay a ticket.
Some handwritten tickets with errors have been repaired weeks later in the online version.
Changing a ticket after the fact is a no-no, says Glen Bolofsky, president of ParkingTicket.com, which helps motorists fight violations. He claims his auditors found some 220,000 “altered” tickets dating back to 2014.
“When there’s more than one version of the ticket containing different information, the ticket is illegal,” he told The Post.
“When you get a parking ticket, you have one shot to bring on your best possible defense. The city also gets one shot to write the ticket. By altering the tickets, they are getting an unfair advantage.”
Richard Brienza, who has a fleet of delivery vans and trucks, said one of his drivers received a $115 ticket for “no standing” in front of 165 W. 48th St. But the ticket didn’t include the time or date of the offense, he said.
Several weeks later, when the NYPD-issued summons was put online, it read that the violation occurred on May 24 at 9:50 a.m.
“I think they wrote the ticket, left off information and caught their mistake later on,” Brienza said.
Bridget McNally of The Bronx, whose husband, Daniel, owns a plumbing company, said one of his truckers received a $115 ticket on May 28 for double parking in front of 364 W. 127th St.
The make of the vehicle and name of the law enforcer were left blank, but that information was added online weeks later.
McNally said she suspects the errors were made in a rush to fill ticket “quotas” — and city coffers.
“Just like they make us do everything properly, they have to do the same,” she seethed.
Bolofsky, who is poised to sue the city over the changed tickets, estimated the city has made $21 million off drivers by avoiding the dismissal of 220,000 flawed parking tickets.
The NYPD referred The Post to the Department of Finance, where spokesman Craig Cine said, “The city does not illegally alter parking tickets it gets from agents in the field.”
He said the city issued more than 11 million tickets last year and “there is no evidence this is a widespread issue.”