Parking ticket battles police vs. fire. Real one in Pittsburgh. Fake one in Montreal.
KDKA-TV describes it as a legal battle pitting the City of Pittsburgh versus the City of Pittsburgh. In the story above you will learn that some city fire trucks were ticketed for parking at spaces reserved for the mayor and City Council members on Tuesday. The firefighters had stopped by for their flu shots. A police officer, aware of regular complaints by the city officials about people who park in their spaces, slapped tickets on the rigs.
The trucks came from the Homewood station with full crews, and according to their union attorney with the best intentions.
“They had parked outside the City County Building, they were supposed to get a flu shot to avoid sick days,” said Josh Bloom, the firefighters’ attorney. “As they went in… the fire trucks and fire engines were given parking tickets.”
“I suppose the city will have to go to court against itself,” said Bloom. “The firefighters do not own the fire trucks, so the city was written a ticket today.”
A possible solution to this problem emerges in the video below that shows a Montreal police officer ticketing a fire engine parked in front of a hydrant (police NEVER do that). But I am not sure I would recommend that firefighters respond this way to a parking ticket (but if you are planning to do so, please alert me so I can bring my video camera). The clip is one of a series of videos involving "firefighters" and a Candid Camera type of approach.
