Turn to Ted: Woman pays for parking, but gets ticket anyway

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Houston grandmother on the way to the George R. Brown convention center got caught up in what she says were confusing downtown parking lot rules. She paid to park - no one disputes that - but still got a parking ticket in a private lot.

When she couldn't work it out on her own, she turned to investigative reporter Ted Oberg.

"You park your car. You walk to a little machine," Janice Johnson said, "There was someone there he said, 'stick your card in.'"

Janice says the attendant didn't tell her to put the receipt on her dash, so she put her receipt in her purse and went to check the quilts. As soon as she got back - a little notice was the first thing she saw.

"'Oh my God what is that!'" Johnson said. "I have a fine of $70 or whatever because I didn't pay. But I did pay."

But because it wasn't on her dash, the lot said she hadn't paid and wasn't interested in the excuses. They claim she didn't comply with the rules. She was insistent she had paid and did not owe a fine for non-payment.

Once we got in touch with Parking Revenue Recovery Services, the Colorado company that was trying to collect from Janice, the company told her, "We have voided this notice as a one-time courtesy. In the future please be careful to prepay and follow all rules of the parking lot."

Lesson learned.

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