By Spencer Gallichan-Lowe
Private security and parking lot firms are issuing record numbers of parking tickets a recent analysis of City of Ottawa parking data reveals.
Data obtained from an access to information request shows that Security Response Canada, Inc. issued the most tickets, with over 21,000 in 2014 alone.
When reached for comment, a Security Response staff member said the owner is on holiday and won’t comment on this story.
Only authorized private parking lot companies and security firms can issue parking tickets according to a City of Ottawa bylaw passed in 2012. This means parking lot companies and security firms can legally ticket a vehicle for parking past their allotted time or in the case of automated lots, parking without putting money in a meter. Firms can also ticket for unauthorized parking, parking in an accessible parking spot or parking in a fire zone on private property.
“Part of the reason the bylaw was enacted was because companies were creating tickets in-house,” says Troy Leeson, deputy chief of bylaw and regulatory services for the city. “It was void of a legal process.”
Leeson says prior to the 2012 bylaw the rules weren’t very clear. Private parking lot users who were issued tickets were often confused about what to do. The tickets include a fine but do not have the legal force City of Ottawa tickets do. Often people would simply not pay them and forget about it, he says.
“We saw this bylaw as a consumer protection piece,” says Mr. Leeson.
Some companies would hire collection agencies or pursue offenders in small claims court. However, it was often not economical to do so due to court and collection agency fees.
“If it costs $50 to pursue a $30 fine, it’s not a sustainable business model,” he says.
As for the fines themselves, Mr. Leeson says the city collects and retains 50 per cent of the revenues. The remainder is reimbursed to the companies.
Mr. Leeson adds the fine collection rate is about 70 per cent, but says the city does not keep formal statistics.
As for Security Response’s high ticket rate, Mr. Leeson speculates it may be due to the number of properties the company patrols.
The tickets issued by the private companies are on the same blue and white paper tickets city bylaw officers use. If the fines go unpaid, drivers may have trouble renewing their plates.
About ten agencies participate in the program, but one major parking provider opted out in 2012. Impark, Inc. is one of the largest operators of surface and underground parking lots in Canada and the United States. They issue non-city tickets to customers who either run out of time or don’t pay at all for parking.
“There’s a fundamental difference between what we’re doing and what a municipality does,” says Julian Jones, senior vice president of corporate development at Impark. “We have a commercial objective…to serve customers and to build a loyal customer base.”
Mr. Jones says customers who get a ticket have the option of contacting Impark’s call centre and asking for a reduction or even a full waiver.
“Clearly if someone has one notice and they didn’t understand the system or there was extenuating circumstances then we’re going to take a very lenient view on that and convert them into a customer,” he says. “That’s absolutely our objective.”
Mr. Jones won’t reveal how many tickets they issue on their lots but says the enforcement system “…is purely a supporting system for the primary revenue collection process, which is of course the meters.”
Impark holds a unique legal position in the private-ticket world. A 2011 Ontario court ruling sided with the company’s right to issue fines. This makes it the only parking lot company in Canada with the authority to do so.
Still, Mr. Jones says they’re more interested in keeping people coming back to their lots rather than chasing them away with threats of fines.
“Our preference would be to not enforce the system at all and have people pay at the meter,” he says.