Metro police issue ‘invalid’ tickets
BRIXTON - Shoppers and proprietors on Brixton High Street were issued with tickets and told that they'd been "parking wrong" for twenty years by JMPD-officers. The residents disagree.
Owners of cars parked on Brixton High Street on Tuesday were bemused to find that Johannesburg Metro Police Department had issued them parking tickets that didn’t seem to be valid.
“We’ve parked on this very spot for 20 years with no problem,” Steven Blazevic, one of the proprietors of Discount Trading in High Street said.
“Then suddenly, yesterday, all the cars on the sidewalk received parking tickets. Those parked at the Absa-branch’s allocated parking received tickets too. And the guys across the street at the tow-zone (where parking is forbidden between 4pm and 6pm) were also ticketed. My mother also got a ticket.” The tickets were issued at 1:30pm, and parking wasn’t illegal at that time.
“I asked the officers why they were writing out the tickets,” Blazevic recounted. “This is dedicated parking, and we’ve parked here for 20 years,” I told her. She said, “You’ve been doing it wrong for 20 years then.””
After pointing out that the tickets were not valid, Blazevic was told to ‘’just go to court and get the case thrown out.”
“I’ve got their names and their badge numbers,” he said. Northcliff Melville Times are also in possession of the officers’ details.
Brixton Furnisher’s proprietor Bradley Nurock said that those parked in front of his store were also ticketed at the same time. “It’s unprecedented,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s harassment, really. We’re tempted to laugh about it.”
“Anybody issued with an unfair ticket should apply for cancellation at the Metro Police department in the inner city,” Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said in response. The department is on the corner of Village and Love Day streets.
