LETTER

Fines, not information from City

 

Recently, I discovered a notice on the driver's seat of my car when I left for work. It informed me I would be receiving a ticket for leaving my car door unlocked on a city street. That ticket for $53 appeared in my mailbox this week.

I have a couple of issues with this. First, I suspect it is a surprise to many that leaving your car unlocked on the street in front of your house is illegal. I have seen no signs along my street or no public awareness campaign alerting me to this fact. Perhaps the city expects us to look up every obscure by-law on the city's books. I certainly don't have time for that!

Second, is the city that desperate for money that it needs to send a by-law officer out in the middle of the night (3:53 am) searching for unlocked cars? I fail to see how leaving my car unlocked is a public safety issue that requires an early-morning sweep of a suburban street. I suspect the officer's salary for the night greatly outweighs the fines over that period.

I question why the by-law officer needed to enter my car. The door may have been unlocked, but that didn't give him the right, as a representative of the city, to enter. He could have easily got my attention by leaving it under my wiper (or knocking on my door). Clearly, he was trying to make a point. If only he had known that writing a ridiculous ticket for apparently breaking an arcane by-law would have accomplished that on its own!

T. Kerr
Aylmer