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This happened to me a number of times when I lived downtown on 1st Street. I never once saw a ticket, but received several in the mail with the extra $10 tacked on. Eventually, I decided I had enough and did go to court to contest it.

The judge made a preemptive speech at the beginning explaining he didn't want to hear any ridiculous stories or excuses, and that only extraordinary situations with proof would allow for dismissal of charges. And I'm pretty sure he specifically said "I never received a ticket in the first place" would not be an acceptable excuse. I immediately feared that I was wasting my time.

When it was finally my turn, I went up and basically explained that I would gladly pay the cost of the original ticket (as I likely was at fault on the violation date), and that I was only contesting the extra $10 for yet another ticket I never saw. There were some snickers in the crowd and the judge gave me a dumbfounded look, but he decided to drop the original ticket and the surcharge and only assessed the court fees (which pretty much amounted to the price of the original ticket).

I know it seems like a waste of time, but I imagine if more people congest the courts with this common issue, someone will finally admit there is a problem.

Thanks all you JCListers for the feedback. And MDM, you're right, that is worse. I paid it online... turns out the $52 included the penalty ($42 ticket + $10 fine). Live to fight another day, right?

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Pay the ticket online if you are not going to contest it. It's convenient. Also, I never have been hit with the $10 court fee even if I received the court notice when I have done this. I think there is a $2 charge for doing it online but it's worth it. Good luck.

It could be worse. Years back I got issued a bench warrant for failure to appear on a citation (tenant put out trash at the wrong time). I had moved and the court had sent the notice to my old address and the post office didn't forward it.

Ended up walking down to the Muni courthouse to post $100 in bail.

Or maybe the parking agent isn't even leaving the copy. It's the nature of the game, the wind, a prank, wrong fill out, you name it but is it even worth it to go to court ? Actually you stated you might have gotten the ticket stuff happens so your ticket blew away. Gotta pay the piper.

I know that there are more important things to worry about but I can't help but feel annoyed that I received in the mail a "Failure to Appear Notice" for a parking ticket I never received.

The ticket is for failing to move my car for street cleaning back in October. I wasn't aware of this slip as there was never a ticket on my windshield but I suppose it's possible.

Here's what's got me annoyed... on top of the ticket amount ($52), there's also a penalty (granted "only" $10) because I didn't pay before what was probably blown off my windshield or removed by some punk. How is it right that I'm charged a penalty for something I didn't even know about? There's no way to know you got a ticket except the paper ticket left on your car.

The only way to contest it is to go to court and I'm not going to waste my time contesting a $10 penalty. Also a small, paranoid voice in my head wonders if the city isn't "losing" parking tickets to make more money through penalties.

Anyone have similar experiences to share?