Ontario man given $110 ticket for peeling licence plate taking his fight to court

An Ontario man who was handed a $110 ticket for having a peeling and faded licence plate says he believes the charge is unfair and will fight the fine in court.

Toronto man John Petrosoniak has two sets of Ontario licence plates that are peeling, faded and cracked. He said he went to Service Ontario to have them replaced, but he was told he would have to pay for replacements and refused.

Not long after, he was stopped by the police and given the $110 fine, charge of "entire plate not plainly visible."

He said that plate delamination is an issue with Ontario licence plates and that he shouldn't be on the hook for replacing them.

"I have seen bus plates and government plates that are all failing," Petrosoniak told CTV News Toronto. "Yet I have old plates from the 1970s and they are perfectly fine."

Peeling and faded licence plates have been a problem for years in Ontario, and the government hoped to fix the problem with the new blue plates. But after being rolled out, the new blue licence plates had to be scrapped because they were difficult to read at night.

Service Ontario told CTV News Toronto that delaminated licence plates will only be replaced for free if they were purchased within five years.

The fee for new plates older than five years is $59, but Petrosoniack said he believes if the plates have a defect they should be replaced for free.

In the state of New York, if plates are peeling and fading they are replaced free of charge.

While waiting to fight his ticket in court, Petrosoniak painted the numbers and letters on his licence plates using blue paint so they're visible, but according to Toronto police it's also an offense to modify a plate in any way, shape or form.

Petrosoniak said he believes drivers are not replacing faded plates because they don't want to pay for new ones, and he feels the government should allow people with peeled plates to get a new set of plates at no charge.

He said he will argue his case in court and is hoping to avoid paying the fine.

"Replace the plates for free," he said.

Click here to find out more on how to replace a delaminated plates.