United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

2007 Just won't end soon enough. This is my latest story. I wrote a letter to the Editor of the Portsmouth, NH Herald. I hope they publish it.
I just want this year from HELL to end!!!
This is the letter:

I am in absolute shock at the Greed and Uncompassionate Attitude the Portsmouth Parking Clerks office extends to the handicapped. I suffered a severe automobile injury on January 2, 2007 due to black ice. I am now permanently disabled. I applied for and received a temporary handicap-parking placard. It expired in July 2007. A new one was given to me with a new expiration date of January 2008. I also applied for and received a permanent handicap plate and placard on September 22, 2007.

September 12, 2007 my husband and I parked his car in the Vaughn Parking Lot. I grabbed the temporary placard from the glove compartment and hung it on the rear visor mirror. To our surprise when we came back to the car there was a parking ticket for illegally parking in a handicap spot. I looked at the placard and found I had hung the expired placard instead of the current one on the mirror. The ticket was for $250.00.

I wrote an appeal describing the error I made. I sent the actual expired placard, a copy of the valid placard, the statement that a permanent plate was applied for and the explanation that the expired placard was grabbed in error. I firmly believed that presenting the fact that I had a valid placard and accidentally grabbed the invalid placard would resolve the issue.

My appeal was DENIED. My violation was illegally parking in a handicap location. How uncaring and money hungry can Portsmouth be? I have suffered a severe injury. I am permanently handicapped. I provided the facts of this to the city and now I am told that I have to pay $250.00 in five days or I will receive a summons to appear in court and an additional $75.00 will be added to my fine. My car will be booted and a $50.00 fine and any additional costs will be assessed.

Being handicapped is difficult enough to deal with. Now I find Portsmouth could care less about the handicapped. They just want as much money as they can possibly get out of the handicapped. They should be ashamed of their treatment of handicapped people. I am not saying they should not issue tickets to people that park unlawfully in a handicapped spot but when a clear error of just grabbing the wrong placard is proven they should be understanding and grant a valid appeal. I have no option to appeal this injustice in a court and have a judge decide the matter because only one appeal is allowed. Now I have to find a way to pay this $250.00 fine in five days or suffer further injustices. Portsmouth Parking Clerks Office should be ashamed.

I have no choice but to go to their office to pay in Protest and Disgust their $250.00 fine after my one hour of exhausting Occupational Therapy appointment. I can't be sure that mailing the check would get to them in their five-day period

Janelle Zuk
Handicap Plate # S992

Janelle,
We can surely simpathize with you. Dustin has a handicap placard. He would drive to college put the placard on the rearview mirror as suggested, park in a metered stall that was over 1/2 hr (which is allowed according to the state information paper that was sent with the card) only to return after class to find a parking ticket. He called the police dept who told him that he could not park there. So, he would bring in the ticket along with the parking permit and instructions then they would void the ticket. Only to have the same process repeated every week. The police said that they were not familiar with the parking regulations of the handicap stickers. I think this is part of their job and they should eventually learn. He would repeat this process weekly during college. The worst part was although they knew after he showed them, they continued to write the tickets. He then had to drive about 30 miles to have them void the ticket. No, they would not do it over the phone, even though it was their mistake. The first time the officer even said under his breath "I think you have a lot to learn stupid". When Dustin complained to the cheif, of course they found the officer did nothing wrong.
Sue

I wish I could send a contribution to you and help you out with this travesty. What a shame.

I would have paid in pennies(cents)...that would have given them something to think about while they counted it all and lugged it to the safe...!!!

I got a ticket here in ontario for parking in an handicap spot even though i had my permit on my dashboard. The ticket was $300. I was pissed so i took it to the court here with the permit and they voided the ticket. I guess the laws are different in Canada to the US. I wish you the best of luck with fighting it.