ST. LOUIS — It was supposed to help you avoid getting a parking ticket.
But some St. Louisans are saying the city's parking app for your smart phone is confusing. So confusing, that even if you pay for your parking spot, you may still get a ticket.
That's what one man told our I-Team happened to him.
Feed the meter or risk a ticket.
It's a fact of life in any city.
But in the case of musician Jeff Nation, he said he did the right thing.
The story is simple: he and his wife parked downtown by Lucas Park and they used the city's Parkmobile app to pay it.
He came back a few hours later to see the most detestable slip of paper he could imagine on his windshield.
"There's a parking ticket on it when there's still time on the meter," said Nation. "The spot itself is paid for, yet I’m still getting a $15 ticket."
What went wrong? When you pay a parking meter, you're clearly paying for the space your car is in.
But with the Parkmobile app, first you pay to park in a zone. So, to identify your car, you have to enter your license plate.
"You pay for the car, not the space," said Nation.
So, when Nation's wife paid for the spot with her phone, it automatically dropped in her car's license plate number.
The problem? They were driving Nation's car.
"Since it was her license plate info in the app, but we were in my car that was the discrepancy. And since we weren't in her car, we technically didn't pay for the space," said Nation.
But that didn't wash with Nation who says the app is confusing and when it comes down to it they did pay to park.
"I’m not that hard up. But it's the principle of the thing," said Nation.
Nation made call after call to the city and a month later, the city treasurer dismissed his ticket.
"I hope this makes people aware of how this works so they're not having the same thing happen," said Nation.
Unfortunately, during our interview with Nation, the city managed to leave him a surprise: another ticket.
"You can tell obviously they're watching and just looking for their opportunities. It's ridiculous because the city has better things to take care of," said Nation.
I-Team: will you dispute it?
"Absolutely! Absolutely," said Nation.
The city treasurer's office tells the I-Team people can occasionally still get tickets after paying through the app.
But there is a solution if you've been ticketed by mistake: just email the city treasurer your Parkmobile receipt and the parking ticket at STLTreasurer@stlouis-mo.gov and they can void it.
