'It’s quite demoralizing': New Vancouver mom ticketed $230 over back-loading bike rack

An East Vancouver woman is speaking out after receiving a $230 ticket over having a back-loading bike rack on her vehicle, just five minutes into her first night out as a new mother.

Ashley Dunne says she was driving down Great Northern Way earlier this month when she was pulled over by a police officer and informed that her license plate was obscured.

“Really, that’s the issue?” Dunne, 39, recalls saying to the police officer, who responded by handing her a hefty ticket.

“I said ‘Can’t I please have a warning?’ And he said ‘Nope’ and just walked away, which was pretty brutal, you know, in the first five minutes of my first night out away from the baby,” she explained.

The only reason Dunne had a back-loading bike rack on her vehicle at the time was because her partner had recently been hit by a car while cycling, and needed to take her broken bike to the shop for repairs.

“When you have a new baby there are just so many things that are so expensive. So it’s just like ‘OK, I guess I’ll just throw another $200 down the well.’ It’s quite demoralizing.”

Dunne says ICBC advised her to get a top bike rack, but she says neither she or her partner have the height or strength required for that solution.

While she understands some people may intentionally obscure their license plates, Dunne’s experience with the VPD officer has left her feeling frustrated over how her tax dollars are being spent.

“I think there’s room for issuing warnings to people for things that are just education based,” she told CTV News.

“Instead (the VPD) are ticketing a new mom on her way to the show with a bike rack. It makes it seem like maybe they don’t need quite the budget they have if that’s what they’re devoting their time to.”

In addition, Dunne says ticketing people for having bike infrastructure could discourage people from taking up cycling.

“If we want this to be a bike-friendly city, everyone has to be willing to shell out $230 every time they want to put their bike rack on their car, so that doesn’t seem sustainable to me.”

VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin was not able to provide data on how many tickets police have issued this year over the same offense.

“The data we have on that isn’t accurate. There is a violation code for obstructing your plate, but the only way we would know if it was a bike rack that was covering the plate is if the officer made manual notes on the violation ticket,” Visintin wrote in an email to CTV News.

Dunne has paid the ticket, but hopes that by sharing her story she can save other people hundreds of dollars.

“Good luck to everyone else out there, hope you’re luckier than I am,” she said.