I received a notice from the City of Milton yesterday. A conviction for parking longer than three hours on one of their city streets. On Sunday, April 20th.

The fine is 30 dollars. If I do not pay it within the month, the fine goes up by 16 dollars.

All well and good except that I was never in Milton on Sunday, April 20th. I was at our church for the morning and at home for the rest of the day. And the license plate in question has been off vehicle for over two years. We took the plates off when we traded our last car in 2006. There was no value remaining for the plate so we stored it in the basement.

We confirmed with the Ministry of Transportation that the license plate is off vehicle. We called the City of Milton to let them know that the plates are off vehicle. We talked to the police to ensure that someone is not driving around with a duplicate set of plates. Whether the City of Milton will acknowledge an error of transcription or force us to fight the ticket in court remains to be seen.

But for 30 dollars, I’m not sure it is worth the time and the gas money to travel all the way to Milton to clear my name of a parking ticket.