“Admit with Explanation or Deny, Deny, Deny?”

photo from the archives

“Dear PoPville,

Readers have noted that contesting a parking ticket often results in reduced fines. I was recently dinged when my registration/parking permit lapsed on Sunday, but I didn’t renew/print the temporary registration until like 9 am on Monday. Of course parking enforcement had rolled by and given me 2 tickets totalling $130 by then. (The devil works hard but parking enforcement works harder!)

Anyway, I ended up filing the “Admit with Explanation” option to contest my tickets. I figured if I humbled myself at the mercy of the court maybe they’d go easy on me, but I’m but I’m wondering if anyone has experience on the difference or success rate of admitting vs denying parking tickets?”