West Island residents upset, confused about private parking lot tickets

A woman on Montreal’s West Island is upset about a fine she received from a private parking lot, and she is not alone.

Nabila Oubouchou parked in a lot on the corner of Saint-Jean and Brunswick boulevards in Pointe-Claire, met a friend at Tim Hortons but had gone to a nearby clinic beforehand.

When she returned to her vehicle, there was a ticket on her windshield.

“I look at the fine and I talk to the guy. I said, ‘Hey, what’s this fine?’ He said, ‘Yeah, you are parked here illegally,’” she said. “He assumed that I spent all this time in the clinic, but I said, ‘Look, I just got my Tim Hortons here.’”

Oubouchou was not happy about the $103 infraction.

“I felt it was unfair to have to pay a $100 ticket for a type of misunderstanding and where people, even with the proof, they don’t listen to you,” she said. “A private company giving fines. Is this legal?”

CTV News spoke with two lawyers about the fines and they pointed out that the fines are not considered parking tickets, but rather civil claims similar to bills or invoices.

“It’s going back to the analogy of you using my property. I’m charging you a fee,” said attorney Jamie Benizri.

“It’s purely a civil claim by the landlord for illegally parking in this parking lot, essentially,” said lawyer Avi Levy of Ticket911.ca.

Both lawyers say that a private company doesn’t have the same power that local governments have when it comes to enforcing unpaid fines.

“The real question is, can they enforce it much like a city or a government can? And the answer is no,” said Benizri.

However, the parking company could take someone to small claims court.

“If an individual accumulates enough tickets at one point, it’ll be worth it for them to pursue. If it’s one, they may not come after you. If it’s more, they may come after you. And that’s the risk that you’re taking,” said Levy.

A debate rages over the legitimacy of the tickets.

Quebec’s Consumer Protection Office said that an article in the law related to the collection of debts says that no one may use writing that might be mistaken for an official government approved document.

The office has received hundreds of complaints about Stat Park – the company that manages the lot Oubouchou received her notice from.

The office added that it is looking into the company.

Stat Park told CTV News that fines can be cancelled if there is a mistake.

The company added that it does not issue parking tickets and never forces anyone to pay.

Oubouchou, for her part, does not plan on paying her fine because she has a receipt from her visit to Tim Hortons and her friend as a witness.