Paying for a parking ticket
Do I have to pay a parking ticket if the police have not entered it? Recently while I had visitors borrowing my car they got a ticket in town. They tried to pay it at the clerk of the court on the same day but the office was closed. My visitors left and three days later I ventured into town to pay the fine as instructed on the ticket. To my surprise I was told I could not pay it because the police constable who wrote the ticket did not register it with another department. I was told to go to another building to do that, stand in line, pay, then go back to the clerk’s office, stand in line again and pay. I did all that because I do not want to be on the wrong side of the law, but it occurred to me that the police have to do their part as well and perhaps by law, I did not have to pay?
Auntie’s answer: Yes, if you get a parking ticket you have to pay and if you don’t, there will eventually be a warrant out for your arrest. According to Inspector Adrian Barnett of the Traffic Management Unit (TMU), the ticket is a summons to court and you should note how long you were given to pay by the officer who gave you a ticket. If you were polite you might get a month, but if you were rude to the officer he may only have given you a week.
Now, Insp. Barnett noted that after the ticket is written up, it does not get to court immediately but it will usually be there within a week — and if you were only given a week to pay, he assured me it would be there in time for that.
Apparently, about eight years ago, someone in government thought that it would be a great idea if the RCIPS had automatic ticket machines for traffic offences and about 16 were purchased for traffic officers to cart around with them. The idea was that, as the officer printed out the ticket for the offender, a copy would be automatically sent to the courts.
Four RCIPS officers were trained to be instructors so that they could teach other police officers here how to use them.
However, the software was all Americanised and had to be reprogrammed to be compatible with local laws, which — yes, you’ve guessed it — never happened. So the machines are now sitting in cupboards in the TMU, basically taking up space.
Category: Ask Auntie, Police Questions
ALWAYS hold on to your receipts people. On THREE separate occasions, three DIFFERENT people I know have had warrants for their arrest for not paying their tickets, even though they have receipted proof they paid. Whatever database they use doesn’t seem so reliable.
Can you pay the ticket online with a credit card? If so, what’s the website?
The website you are looking for is http://www.cigarestuckinthe19thcentury.com
That answer is bogus. The ticket clearly states the ticket is to be paid before whatever date is put on it. No where on the ticket does it tell you to wait a week for the RCIPS to process it, wasting peoples time. I wish I could issue tickets to the cops for not doing their job.
Cayman seems to love seeing people standing in lines and when you get to the front they seem to take delight telling you they can’t process whatever you stood in line for. So backward.
That’s the part that drives me crazy – the joy on their faces when they realize they have an excuse to send you away!
Thank you Auntie for shedding light on the automatic ticket machines. A viable solution not implemented because of incompetence. How much money has been wasted both on the initial investment and the decade of not having a solution in place? I could never have conceived that the Government could be so frivolous with the public’s money.
“I could never have conceived that the Government could be so frivolous with the public’s money.”
You’re joking right? They have reports upon reports from consultants gathering dust only God knows where. That’s just one waste but I could name a few. Cayman Brac has the Hilton hotel, 1/2 built PWD building on the bluff with cement blocks sitting going to waste, etc etc. I could go on.
A better question, THE QUESTION why can’t it be done on Internet? The year is 2016, the Cayman Islands is one of the world’s financial centers, yet such a rudimentary thing as paying a traffic ticket is still being done as if we are living in the pre- internet era. What is up with that?
Same reason you cant do many things involving Govt or civil service on the internet or at least a expedient manner…it means you need less staff so more unemployment. Simple truth.