'Damage is done': Toronto officer captures driver trying to avoid parking ticket by speeding away

A Toronto parking enforcement officer captures the moment a driver takes off while getting a parking ticket, warning drivers they can still get their tickets in the mail (Twitter/@TPS_BikeHart)

A Toronto police officer is warning drivers they can still get a parking ticket, even if they drive away while in the process of getting one.

Parking enforcement and bicycle patrol officer, Erin Urquhart, shared a video on Wednesday, heading southbound on Yonge Street before peeling off onto Hayden Street when she saw a driver had parked their vehicle illegally.

“I come across this car that had no driver but a passenger sitting in this car, in the no stopping zone and right beside a fire hydrant,” Urquhart said in the video.

In a no stopping zone, Urquhart explains she doesn’t have to ask the driver or passenger to move the car – she can still write up a ticket while they’re in the car.

Even though she still started to issue a ticket, Urquhart asked the passenger if she could still move the vehicle.

“She couldn’t. She gave me the ‘one minute’ gesture with her hand, and was on a phone,” Urquhart said.

As Urquhart was walking to the car to serve the $100 parking ticket – just the one for no stopping, explaining she couldn’t write them up for both infractions – the driver ran across the street from Chick-fil-A.

Then, the driver jumped into the front seat and drove away, Urquhart said.

“There I’m taking my photo evidence that the car is actually driving off and pictures of the signage that they were parked in front of. The damage was done when they were parked there, and now they’re going to get their $100 ticket in the mail,” Urquhart concluded.

Brian Moniz, Toronto Police Service's Manager of Parking Enforcement, confirmed to CTV News Toronto in a statement that officers generally use their discretion and issue drivers the ticket that has the "more significant violation when multiple bylaws are in contravention." Moniz also said there are no additional penalties for motorists who drive away before their parking ticket is served to them.