The Toronto tribunal reduced 40% of parking ticket fines last year on appeals citing 'hardship'

More than 40 per cent of drivers appealed their parking tickets last year on the grounds of "hardship" and had their fines cancelled or reduced — a number that's far too high, one city councillor says.

Coun. Stephen Holyday said the "striking" number makes him question how much of a deterrent parking tickets really are.

He told CBC Toronto he's wondering what the impact will be, later this year, when the city takes over responsibility for adjudicating much more serious infractions like speeding and red light running.

"There's got to be a penalty and a consequence," Holyday said.

"The city has parking tickets to deal with things like congestion ... but even more importantly, for safety considerations."

The latest figures were presented to councillors during a recent meeting of council's general government committee in the annual report of the Administrative Penalty Tribunal (APT), which has looked after appeals of all parking tickets since 2017.

Of the 21,000 cases it heard in 2023, the APT said, 8,600 were either reduced or cancelled outright due to "hardship."

Hardship can be financial or medical, said Dianne Kasias, the city's director of court services.

One parking ticket in 2023 cost could cost as much as $500, however of the 2.2 million issued last year, the majority range between $30 and $75, according to a report from city staff.

"It's the cost of a tank of gas," Holyday said. "It's a question worth asking: How do you explain financial hardship on a $60 ticket? ... On the surface, it just doesn't seem logical."

Calls to the APT by CBC Toronto have not yet been returned. But Kasias defended the tribunal's record.

Kasias said the tribunal's 25 hearing officers are members of the public who are well trained and backed up by city support staff.

"They're very well trained in mediation and adjudication," she said. "When they're chosen (by city council) it has to be someone who really understands city traffic policies and laws. Council, by appointing these members, affords them the ability to make those decisions (about whether to reduce a fine)."

Kasias said the grounds on which a fine can be reduced or cancelled are laid out in the city bylaw that governs the APT's operation.