In this week’s mailbag, a Steele on Your Side viewer learns the hard way that you still have to pay when you park at a parking meter that’s jammed or broken.
Broken parking meters
Shelly wrote us after getting a ticket for parking at a broken meter. She wants to know why she received a ticket when it wasn’t possible for her to pay because the meter would not accept her money.
Under City of Vancouver by-laws it's illegal to park at a jammed or broken meter and not pay for your parking. The city says if your meter is broken, you can use the pay-by-phone system to pay for parking instead.
City officials also ask motorists to call the number on the meter if its jammed so they can send a crew out to fix it.
Passport rules
Tony wrote us after watching our story about a Canadian man who was denied a flight to the Netherlands because his passport was expiring in four months.
Tony says when he booked a flight with Expedia he learned about a website called visacentral.ca. The site allows you to check visa and passport requirements for whatever country you're planning to visit. You simply select your nationality and the country you are traveling to and it will provide you with the country’s rules for visas and passport expiry.
