How did they know it was my car?

[UncleChuck]

Parking on campus requires a permit where I go to school, which is associated with your car's license plate number. I have a permit for my car, but a few times I've borrowed other people's car when mine wasn't running, and didn't display a permit, and never got a ticket. I assumed the car didn't show up as a student's car, so they didn't bother.

I've had no issues until I get a $160 bill for parking tickets, one is for my car, which I know for a fact had the permit displayed, but the others were for the friend's vehicles.

Now here's my question, how the heck did they know I was driving my friends cars? I can't imagine they would pour through security footage to get a face of the driver, then go through other security footage to find a registered vehicle with the same driver, that sounds totally ridiculous and impossible, right? It's a rather small campus, but still hundreds and hundreds of cars, I can't imagine any sort of serious investigation to find unregistered cars.

Am I missing something really obvious here? How would they know?

I'm afraid to ask the school, as I'm planning on fighting the tickets, and that would be an admission of guilt I'd assume. And before anyone gets all morally outraged that I'm fighting the tickets, refusing to be stolen from isn't stealing. I paid my permit, this is a publicly funded college, it's sick that they are bilking students out of hundreds of dollars for parking violations, especially when they already purchased a permit, and nickle and dime you on absolutely everything possible related to your education.

I did get in a slight argument with a "security" officer who told me I couldn't vape in my car (not the friend's or families cars) because you can only smoke in designated areas. Yeah, I'm sure you know how that one went. Nothing on the books about ecigs, not legally a tobacco product, so he had no official leg to stand on. So maybe a vindictive goofball who has it out for me, remembered my face, and saw me driving a different unregistered car?

How else would they be able to associate someone else's car with me?

 

[DaveP]

Campus security can be interesting to deal with. I've never had a problem with parking on the two I've attended, but there's always more hassle as a school grows and parking becomes tighter and tighter.

My parking permits were bumper stickers. You could also get a window card if you drove multiple vehicles. I used to drive my company van after work and my personal vehicle on occasion. Never had a problem.

I used to vape in my vehicle and no one ever said anything, even when the security people drove through. I vaped outside the entrance and no one ever said anything much about it, either. Once a security guard told me I needed to be in the smoking area when I was actually smoking a cigarette (I still smoked several a day at that time along with vaping).

It's a mystery to me how they knew your name when you drove a different car.

 

[UncleChuck]

I suspect that's it, the tight parking causing their extremely .... behavior. They have recently added a new building, but no new parking. That's cool. Come here for class! But we'll screw you any way possible on parking (which we don't provide enough of) Considering they ban us from parking in the neighborhood around the school (not sure how it's legal to stop you from parking on public streets, but OK...) there isn't really anything people can do.

They don't have access to DMV records or anything, right? It seems a bit abusive for them to have that authority.

This just seems very fishy to me, short of some odd over-reaching of authority I cannot fathom any possible way they would associate me with the other vehicles. Any ideas are welcome though!

 

[Iffy]

I can't imagine they would pour through security footage to get a face of the driver, then go through other security footage to find a registered vehicle with the same driver, that sounds totally ridiculous and impossible, right? It's a rather small campus

- Small campus
- Class schedule patterns
- Ambitious security monitor person
- Money

Tah dah!

If you challenge the tickets, I'm fairly sure you'll find out how they 'nabbed' you.

 

[element9633]

dang man that's tough! they must have followed you on footage or something. at unc charlotte the parking lots are HUGE, and the times I have parked somewhere I shouldn't have or drove someone elses car (mom, dads, friends) I never got a ticket. seems like they have nothing better to do than find that BAD person parking without a permit lol

edit: oh and I defiantly would fight the ticket just to see how they caught me haha

 

[Mrs C]

My guess would be the tickets were originally billed to the registered owner of the car, who passed on the identity of the driver.