11-hour wait, 3-hour parking limit: Man ticketed while stuck in B.C. passport line
The Richmond resident had spent approximately 11 hours waiting in line for his travel documents, but the adjoining parking lot of Central City Mall, where the Service Canada office is located, has a three-hour limit.
"I was annoyed," Diaz told CTV News. "If the wait is this long, they shouldn't be penalizing us."
Lengthy waits have become the norm at many passport offices as Service Canada works through a massive backlog of applications, despite the recent implementation of a new triage process designed to save people time in the queue.
When Diaz arrived at Central City at around 3 a.m. Wednesday, he said there were already about 20 people lined up, including a couple with a baby. He never considered parking limitations while setting up the chair where he'd be sitting through the early morning hours, before finally seeing an agent at around 2 p.m.
When he was inside the passport office, he noticed signs alerting people about the parking lot's three-hour limit, but by then he was reluctant to move his car.
"I don't think anyone wanted to leave the room and risk losing our turn," he said.
According to the mall's website, there are parking spots available for extended hours – for a price – at "offsite and adjacent surface and underground lots."
While Diaz acknowledged he made a mistake, he still believes there should be exceptions for people trapped in the passport lineup, which is a daily occurrence. He told CTV News he wanted to share his story to prevent someone else from getting dinged with their own $80 fine.
CTV News has reached out to Concord Parking, which issued the ticket, to ask about possible exceptions for people waiting at the mall for passport service, but has not heard back.
Diaz also praised Service Canada's new triage system, which helped him see an agent and ensure his passport was ready for pickup by Thursday, one day before his scheduled flight to London.
His parking ticket does sting, however, especially after he was forced to pay an extra $100 for an expedited temporary passport.
His current passport isn't expired or lost, but he mailed it to Service Canada in May to get a certified copy, and is still waiting to receive it back.
"An agent said I should definitely get my passport back because it was just a copy request, but apparently they're so backlogged that they haven't gotten to it yet," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
WATCH LIVE As former prime minister Mulroney lies in state, public tributes in Ottawa begin
Members of the public who wish to pay tribute to Brian Mulroney can visit his casket in Ottawa starting this afternoon.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Images taken deep inside melted Fukushima reactor show damage, but leave many questions unanswered
Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.