A Vancouver woman is fighting back after being issued a bylaw infraction ticket over a snowy sidewalk, saying she was unable to find any road salt.

Barb Plumstead said she and her neighbour had been shoveling every time it snowed, even when flurries lasted several hours.

"Trudy and I were doing our darndest to get them cleaned. In fact, we were out here four times a day," Plumstead told CTV News Wednesday.

But by the time she got outside on New Year's Day, the public sidewalk had been tamped down by pedestrians, and she was unable to clear the icy snow left behind without salt. She claims a shovel was not enough to scrape off the packed snow and ice off the sidewalk.

She said she used car services to try to find more salt, spending $150 on the search, then finally she enlisted the help of her landlord and started to call around. She found that no one had it.

She was able to find some small bags of salt at a grocery store, but the bags weren't enough to clear the swath of sidewalk in front of her home.

The sidewalk remained uncleared, and she was given two warnings and then a ticket from the city.

"I was furious. Furious," she said.

Plumstead was not alone in her struggle to find de-icing materials during the unusually snowy season.

Stores' stocks of shovels, sand and salt ran dry, and one-tonne piles of free salt and sand offered from the city at local fire halls were gone within minutes of being dropped off.

The shortage was so great that the park board issued a warning to people thinking of stealing sand from Vancouver beaches, and the city apparently reached out to other municipalities, including Coquitlam, to see if they had any to spare for residents in need.

Plumstead said she initially hoped to fight her ticket based on her circumstances, but the day she faced the judge she saw several others attempt to plead their case before her.

The judge had little to say, she said, claiming his hands were tied and his only option was to impose the minimum fine.

She said she'd heard "every reason under the sun," and, disappointed in the outcomes of other cases, decided to plead guilty and pay the $250.

But she decided to take the fight to City Hall, based on comments made by the judge that those objecting to the infraction tickets should be made in a political forum rather than a court room.

Following his suggestion, she wrote a letter to Mayor Gregor Robertson asking him to intervene.

Plumstead said she and others in the same situation felt puzzled by the process, and she recommended an educational program instead, particularly because it was such a bad winter.

"Why not give people that year to grasp the fact that our winter weather has changed; heavy snowfalls are not going to be a once in a decade event?" Plumstead wrote.

She asked what the city's intention was with its "rigid and punitive approach," and asked whether they were just trying to rile up homeowners and businesses.

She said homeowners who hadn't learned their lesson in previous years learned it last winter, and likely won't make the same mistakes again.

"It became really evident that there was no compassion for circumstances," she said.

She also recommended the money raised from tickets for snowy sidewalks be put toward more snow clearing equipment.

Bylaw fine payments made up about 1 per cent of the city's overall operating revenues in the 2017 budget, but the budget does not include which specific projects the money collected will go toward.

The mayor's office was not available for comment on Plumstead's letter to Robertson, but the engineering department said the city worked hard last year to focus on education and bylaw awareness rather than fining.

Courtesy notifications were issued to residents in violation of the bylaw, and reminders were made through print and social media ads, on the city's homepage and on social media, said Amanda McCuaig, communications manager for the city's engineering department.

Push notifications were also sent out on the VanConnect and VanCollect app, she told CTV News by email.

"Last year, between December 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017 the City released 25 news releases and held 9 news conferences to provide updates on the City's work and inform residents of their responsibilities," McCuaig wrote.

The city issued 10,267 snow clearance notices between Dec. 1, 2016 and Feb. 10, 2017, and there are more than 500 prosecution files related to snow-clearing tickets issued in that time.

Many of the notices and tickets were issued as a result of tips left with the city's 3111 service number.

In Vancouver, property owners and tenants are required to clear snow and ice from the full width of sidewalks adjacent to their properties by 10 a.m. every day. Those who do not comply face warnings or fines from bylaw officers.

Fines range from $250 to $2,500, depending on number of violations.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's David Molko