The Curse of the Expired Decals
I have several horror stories about parking tickets, but this is the most frustrating.
The parking stories that are posted, such as this one, were submitted to BU Now as part of our Parking Horror Stories contest.
By Anna Marie Bridges
I have several horror stories about parking tickets, but this is the most frustrating. I am a non-traditional student and I commute from Hazleton. I have two children and thankfully, my mother, who works third shift, is my sitter when I attend classes.
I schedule my classes as close together as possible so I can get home in a timely manner. I also schedule them beginning at 9:00 a.m. because of travel time. On the first day of this semester, I parked in the lot behind the library as I have been doing so for quite a while now (I have been taking classes for over four years now). I was always under the assumption that tickets were not given out the first two days of classes as that is when we are to get our new decals–Boy was I wrong!
Anyway, I parked my car, which I had just bought over the summer (so I didn’t have a decal) in the lot and went off to my classes. My last class was over at 12:50 and I went to get my new decal right after class. I got my decal and hiked my way back to the library lot, not even considering that I would have a ticket.
When I saw that familiar yellow envelope, I almost screamed right there and then. I had to get home, so I called the BU police on my way home and inquired as to why I had this ticket on the first day! I was told that because I didn’t have my old decal on the car that I should have parked on upper campus!
What?!?! No one told me I should park up there and I am sure if I would have, I would have gotten a ticket there too! I was so outraged that I decided to file the appeal. Needless to say, I did not get my money back as the appeal was denied.
I registered my new car on STINF ahead of time so I thought the no decal thing wasn’t a big deal–they had all my information. Why register a vehicle at all if they don’t check it out before issuing the dreaded ticket? Thank you for letting me vent about this!!
