I was at Chinatown in Los Angeles, an area that I am not that familiar with. I saw some parking meters and of course first instinct would be that it was a park-able area. I stopped there and notice in my rear view mirror that a parking enforcement car was approaching. I looked up at the signs, there were FOUR parking signs so I tried to skim through them as fast as possible then bingo, I could not park there after 4pm and it was about 4:15pm. By that time the parking enforcement car was behind me but I didn't think anything of it since I never got out of the car and I was "paused" there for only 30 seconds or so. I drove off and I saw that he had followed me for a bit, I just assumed we were going the same direction but now that I received a parking ticket in the mail, I can assume that he followed me to get my license plate number since he probably didn't have enough time to get it down.
I understand the sign did say "no stopping" but it wasn't a red zone, it was a parking meter zone so I'd assume I should have had some grace period to read the signs. It wasn't even just one clear cut sign either, there were four signs.
Do you think I have a good chance to get this dismissed if I contest the ticket and take pictures of the area (meter zone+4 parking signs)? My concern is the lack of evidence I would have. Worse case scenario would be that I'd have to pay but honestly, I wouldn't mind paying if I was in the wrong but since I feel I wasn't, I'd like to try and fight it first. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I understand the sign did say "no stopping" but it wasn't a red zone, it was a parking meter zone so I'd assume I should have had some grace period to read the signs. It wasn't even just one clear cut sign either, there were four signs.
Do you think I have a good chance to get this dismissed if I contest the ticket and take pictures of the area (meter zone+4 parking signs)? My concern is the lack of evidence I would have. Worse case scenario would be that I'd have to pay but honestly, I wouldn't mind paying if I was in the wrong but since I feel I wasn't, I'd like to try and fight it first. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.