‘If you don’t deserve one, don’t pay it’: Toronto driver ticketed despite paying for Green P

After paying for parking through a city-approved app, a Toronto local says she was stunned to find a $75 ticket on her windshield, sparking a frustrating back-and-forth with the city’s online dispute system.

In July, Toronto resident Myah Elliott received a $75 ticket when parking in an underground parking lot in midtown, despite paying the $6 charge through the Green P app.

Now Toronto reviewed the resident’s parking ticket and Green P receipt, and have confirmed Elliott’s claims. 

The $6 parking fee was paid on July 7 at 4:55 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., and she received a violation at 5:37 p.m. 

What happened?

“I paid with my phone, left my car for probably about an hour and a half, I came back, got in my car, drove off, and about two minutes into driving, I saw a ticket in my windshield,” Elliott told Now Toronto.

“I immediately pulled over to a side street and looked at it, and the ticket said that I hadn’t paid for parking,” she added.

So, Elliott double-checked her app to ensure she had selected the right location and correctly entered her license plate, which she confirmed she had done, and even had the receipt.

This is the first time she’s ever received a parking ticket after paying through the Green P app.

‘I was confused and also annoyed’: How Elliott felt after receiving the ticket

“So I was just lost. I don’t know what had happened,” she said. “I went to the website to see if I could immediately dispute it, and the ticket wasn’t showing up for days and days and days.”

That’s when Elliott started to get worried, especially with a trip coming just a few days after receiving that ticket.

“I know you have to either pay or dispute it within a certain time window of getting the ticket, and it wasn’t working,” she said.

“I don’t want to have to be on my trip and then worry that this fine is gonna go up because I can’t find my ticket. I just didn’t want to deal with any of this while being on a trip,” Elliott added.

So, Elliott called the City to get her dispute going, and she says she hasn’t heard anything since.

​”I was confused and also annoyed because this is another thing that I got to deal with now,” she said.

​The resolution Elliott hopes to see

Elliott says she hopes she gets an email stating what she claims to be the City’s error and that the ticket will be revoked.

Right now, she’s not planning to pay anything, as she has evidence that her payment went through with all the details input accurately.

In the midst of her dispute, Elliott recommends, despite the long process, to fight the ticket.

“If you do get a ticket and you know you don’t deserve one, don’t pay it. Life is expensive… but in reality, it’s just people and apps that mess up. Technology isn’t always reliable. So do what you got to do to keep that money in your own pocket,” she said.

Now Toronto reached out twice by email to the City of Toronto for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

‘My ticket said the same thing’: Many people are relating to the issue

After posting the video about her experience, Elliott found many comments about her situation.

@yomrants this officer was trippin bruh #yomrants #storytime #parkingticket ♬ original sound – myah elliott

“I was in the same boat the other week. I used the Green P parking as well, and my ticket said the same thing. I disputed it and even showed them my app receipt,” one TikTok user wrote.

“Funny because I also paid for parking, on the app, was issued a ticket, which I disputed NINE MONTHS AGO, and they’ve finally come back with a decision that my ticket still stands bc “no ticket receipt was displayed on dash” and my credit card screenshot was “insufficient evidence,” another user shared.

“Yup, happened to me at the Distillery District Green P parking and got a ticket. I’m currently disputing it cos I got receipts that I paid for parking and was within the time limit. It’s been five months and still hasn’t been processed,” another commented.

“Show up to traffic court to fight the ticket. Pull up the receipt on your phone. It’ll get tossed,” one suggested.

“Happened to me at Exhibition. I disputed with my proof of payment screenshots it took almost a year for them to clear it, but it got cleared,” another said.

But Elliott shared that she believes it might go deeper than that based on other comments she’s received.

Elliott said some commenters speculated officers were under pressure to meet ticket quotas, though Now Toronto has not verified those claims and the City did not respond to questions about the allegation before publication.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, unless there’s some sort of technical glitch where the officer couldn’t see that I had paid with my phone or just didn’t bother to check,” Elliott added.