Tickets & Parking

Parking Penalty Notice

Hamilton Municipal Parking Services (HMPS) Operations Update - March 24, 2020
As the City of Hamilton continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation, certain aspects of the City’s parking service have been amended to assist with the needs of the community, such as self-isolation, working from home, and caring for others, while continuing to ensure road safety, availability of parking, and safe traffic circulation. Starting on Wednesday March 25, the City will also be modifying its parking services in response to the provincial order respecting essential services.

Parking Lots and Parking Meters

  • Enforcement of payment at Parking Meters and Municipal Car Parks will no longer continue.
  • As a security measure, payment will still be required for vehicles parking in the Convention Centre Garage and the York Parkade.

Monthly Permits and On-Street Permits

  • In person renewal of monthly permits at all Service Centres, including 80 Main Street West, is suspended until further notice. Permits will continue to be renewed by phone 905-540-6000 or email [email protected] for further information.
  • For any permits that are scheduled to expire at the end of March or April 2020, the deadline for renewals will be extended to April 30, 2020.
  • All pre-authorized payments for monthly permits will continue to be processed based on the normal schedule.
  • All on-street regulation change requests will be suspended until further notice.

Payment of Fines and Disputing of Fines

  • In-person payment of parking fines is suspended until further notice. However payment can still be made online via paytickets.ca or by mail as printed on back of tickets. Note that administrative fees will still be applied to unpaid tickets.
  • Disputing of a parking fine in-person is suspended until further notice. The public can continue to dispute a parking fine by email [email protected] or phone 905-540-6000. Additional Information pertaining to the applicable administration fees, amount increases, and dispute process can be found on the Penalty Notice.

Parking Enforcement
Until further notice, enforcement of the following parking regulations has been suspended:

  • 12-hour time limit for parking on City streets.
  • On-street signed time limit regulations such as 1, 2 and 3 hour time limits in residential areas.
  • Time limit exemption permits for City Streets with posted time limits.
  • Parking related fines for vehicles with expired Ontario License Plate Stickers.
  • Commercial Vehicle Time Limit Regulation for vehicles that may need to remain on street during this time.

The above parking offences may still be enforced in exceptional circumstances where a significant traffic safety, and/or of community concern exists. This includes No Stopping and No Parking Offences. Parking Enforcement Officers will continue to have discretion to use enforcement tools as necessary to ensure the safe and orderly movement of vehicles in the city.

Staff will continue to enforce parking regulations at highly visited public sites, such as Waterfalls.

Enforcement that may result in the towing of vehicles is being limited to priority safety concerns inclusive of blocked driveways/approaches.

For any inquires relating to these services, contact [email protected] or 905-540-6000.

Also known as a parking ticket, a Penalty Notice is issued for all parking offences under the City of Hamilton's Administrative Penalty By-law No. 17-225 (PDF, 215 KB). Penalty Notices were issued starting August, 2015 and replaced the ‘Parking Infraction Notice’.

A person will have 15 days to either pay or request a review of the penalty. Failure to pay or have the penalty reviewed within 15 days will result in additional administrative fees being added to the penalty and the potential that you will be unable to renew (or receive a new) license plate validation sticker.

How to pay Penalty Notices

There are 3 ways to pay your Penalty Notice:

Online

Pay your parking ticket online
You will need to pay a non-refundable fee for each transaction. Fees payable are calculated based on 1.75% of the ticket amount owing to a maximum of $1.50.

Your payment must be processed before the due date on your parking ticket or it may be rejected and subject to additional fees.  Payments made Monday to Friday, excluding holidays, before 8:30 pm will be processed the same business day, otherwise bill payments will be processed the next business day.  

In person

You can pay your parking ticket with cash, cheque, money order, debit or credit cards. Pay your ticket at the following locations:

  1. Hamilton Municipal Parking System
    80 Main Street West, Hamilton
    Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
     
  2. Municipal Service Centres
    Find a location near you. Hours vary by location.

You can leave your cheque or money order payment in the drop boxes at these locations. Do not leave cash in the drop boxes.

By mail

By mailing a cheque to the address noted on the parking ticket. Make your cheque payable to the City of Hamilton. Do not post-date your cheque.

Dispute the Parking Penalty Notice

Any person wishing to dispute a Penalty Notice must appear in person at 80 Main St. West, Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm and ask to speak to a Screening Officer. No appointment is necessary. A Screening Officer may affirm, reduce or cancel the penalty or provide additional time to pay the fine.

Request a hearing

Decisions of the Screening Officer may be appealed further to a Hearing Officer. You will have 15 days from the date of your Screening to request an appointment with the Hearing Officer. 

A Hearing Officer may affirm, reduce or cancel the decision of the Screening Officer. All decisions made by the Hearing Officer are final and binding. There is no further option for appeal.

If a person fails to appear for their scheduled hearing, an additional $50 administrative fee will be applied to the penalty.

Administrative fees

Additional Administrative Fees will be applied to those who fail to pay or dispute their tickets by the payment or dispute due dates. Fee amounts are set under the City of Hamilton User Fees and Charges By-law as follows:

  • Registered owner search fee $10 - To be applied to motorists who fail to pay or dispute their parking penalty within the 15 day time limit and require a second notice.
  • Late payment fee $25 - To be applied to parking penalties that have not been paid or disputed within 45 days of issuance of the parking penalty.
  • Fail to attend Hearing $50 - Will be applied to those who set a Hearing date and fail to attend
  • Plate denial fee $22 - Applied to parking penalties that have been convicted and not paid within 75 days of issuance of the parking penalty. The current fee exists at the rate of $20.

Outstanding parking tickets will be sent to the Ministry of Transportation (MTO). You will be unable to renew or receive a new license plate validation sticker until all outstanding fines have been paid. Additional notifications are sent regarding your outstanding parking fines before you are refused renewal of your licence plate. It is your legal responsibility to inform the MTO of any address changes so that you receive all notifications.