Help Me Hank: Ticket mistake

You check your rearview, you put your car into reverse and you proceed with caution. You're parking your car on the busy streets of Boston; something John has done hundreds of times.

John, Boston driver
"I can park, I can do anything."

But before you pull in, you look up. Are you in some permit-only place? Is there some special time restriction? John was taught to check so he wouldn't get a bright orange surprise on his windshield.

John, Boston driver
"One of my father's biggest pet peeves was parking tickets."

And that's why John was so baffled by this collection agency notice for an overdue Boston parking ticket, for parking on a sidewalk on Thorn St. But John had never parked there and certainly never gotten a ticket there. Now this said he owed 53 dollars, fines and penalties for doing just that.

John, Boston driver
"I smelled a rat right away."

He checked the license plate number on the notice, and bingo, not his plate.

John, Boston driver
"I felt that I was being cheated."

So John called the number on the notice, but all he got was a request for payment.  He tried the Better Business Bureau, but no luck. It was 5pm on Friday, and with no answers yet he called someone else.

John, Boston driver
"That's when I said, hey, let me call Help Me Hank."

We called the Boston Transportation Department to say this notice is not for John's license plate. How about pulling the real ticket to see if we can figure out what went wrong.

That they did and we saw the ticket is written for a Honda but John had a Buick -- wrong car and wrong license plate, proof this is clearly someone else's ticket.

The Boston Transportation Department said oops! Looks like someone somewhere hit the wrong button and a clerical error sent John a bogus ticket. Never mind they said and sent John a letter that his ticket had been dismissed.

John, Boston driver
"I'm happy that it got straightened out."

The BTD admits that mistakes can happen. So if you think you've been incorrectly written up, appeal your ticket. Listen to this, more than half of those that go to a hearing are dismissed. If you're fighting a consumer battle, maybe I can help. Just go to our website and click on "Help Me Hank." In the newsroom, I'm Hank Phillippi Ryan.

(Copyright 2007 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)