Tony At 10: COMMON SENSE; BLOG # 2113; DEC. 1, 2017

THE MESSAGE:

He wrote to Toronto Mayor John Tory about how the law works in this city. It was not a major issue of concern to most citizens living in Toronto but it bothered him quite a bit. The Mayor's office responded with a pleasantly worded, cover your ass email.

His complaint was labelled as follows, "The letter of the Law vs the Heart of the law." It was with regard to a parking ticket that he had received under some trying circumstances.

THE BLURB:

His wife had just been discharged from the hospital after her knee surgery at SMH and was in considerable discomfort. The hospital team had given her a prescription to help control the pain.

When he went to the hospital pharmacy he was told that they could not fill the script right away as there was a 2 hour waiting list for meds. Obviously his common sense told him that they could not wait that long.

Her pain was considerable so he drove to her Apple Tree Clinic on the Esplanade and parked directly in front of the clinic. He left his wife in the car with the motor running and hurried in to get her the pain meds. The street was not busy and the time of day was 11:15AM.

His car rested approximately halfway in front of a 'no standing' sign. He explained to the pharmacy clinic why he needed the meds ASAP. Meanwhile a parking by law officer, named English, decided that his parking choice was not in accordance with city regulations. His wife tried to explain the circumstances to English but his ears were closed.

Ten minutes later he returned to the car with the meds and a bottle of water in time to see English drive away in his security cruiser. He had left behind a parking citation in the amount of $150.00 and one annoyed woman. Later, after the email and some ineffective phone calls to City Hall it was decided that it was easier to simply pay the fine.

A week had passed, and he was walking down a very busy Adelaide Street. He noticed a large Fedex truck parked, directly and entirely within, an area clearly marked with a 'no standing sign'. This parking choice had removed access for 1 lane of traffic and resulted in much honking of car horns. A by law officer was at the scene.

Recalling his frustration with officer English, he decided to hang around and do some investigating. Approximately 12 minutes later the Fedex driver exited a building. The bylaw officer talked to the driver and allowed him to proceed without a citation.