How To Get Your Money Back If You Were Wrongfully Ticketed At A Pedestrian Ramp

Rachel Silberstein -
8102 20 Avenue (Source: Google Maps)

Now that we know that the NYPD has been wrongfully ticketing thousands of legally parked vehicles, raking in millions of dollars in fines, how can drivers get their money back?

Here is a step-by-step guide:

  • The Department of Finance has said that they will review wrongfully issued pedestrian ramp tickets going back more than one year using the form found here.
  • After review, if it is discovered that the driver paid a wrongful ticket, the DOF will issue a refund.
  • Drivers must type “Pedestrian Ramp Ticket Issue” in the subject heading and they must have either the relevant summons number or their license plate number to provide so the DOF can accurately search for the ticket in their system.
  • If drivers received this type of ticket recently and have yet to dispute it, they are encouraged to dispute the ticket using for form found here.

As we’ve reported, since 2013, more than 1,966 mostly legal spots have generated about $1.7 million dollars a year in tickets, because of a little-known 2009 law change which allowed drivers to legally park in front of pedestrian ramps.

The data, compiled by Pratt Institute urban planning professor Ben Welington, is drawn from New York City’s newly expanded Open Data portal, where the author pulled the most common parking spots in the city where cars are ticketed for blocking pedestrian ramps.

When Wellington brought the figures to the NYPD, they admitted to the mistake and vowed reforms.

Councilman Vincent Gentile wants the law enforcement agency to go a step further. This week, he called on the NYPD’s Chief of Transportation Thomas Chan to have his division conduct a full scale effort “to inform all traffic control commands of the correct parking rules at certain T-intersections and instruct all commanders to educate and inform their rank and file.”

Gentile is also calling for the city to find a solution for a citywide refund for drivers who were unjustly ticketed.

“Whether this has been a ‘gotcha’ ticketing scenario, an extreme oversight, or a giant mistake, all that matters to me at this point is putting cash back in our driver’s wallets,” he said.

The Department of Transportation also recently announced that it will pave over the mid-block pedestrian ramps at T-intersections citywide to deter further confusion and erroneous tickets being issued.