PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — One St. Pete man said he is experiencing some issues when it comes to ParkMobile.
He said he still received a parking ticket despite paying for his spot on the app.
"Not really a lot of skin off of anybody's back, but I felt wronged. I felt that there should have been an easier solution to this and there wasn't," said Tony Mella.
Mella said he recently parked in Downtown St. Pete and used ParkMobile to pay for his spot.
"If you use the app to pay the meter, the meters do not reflect as paid," he said.
He said the meter was still flashing, and within a few minutes of paying on the app, he received a parking citation.
"There's no information on how to dispute it in error. It gives you the option to pay the ticket or to plea not guilty and take the ticket to court," said Mella.
He said after digging and contacting the city, he was able to get his citation removed but said it was a hassle.
That's when he contacted ABC Action News.
"Everything is too tech-heavy. Provide a tech solution, an easy tech solution," said Mella.
Mella said for those who can't find out how to dispute their wrongly issued citation, it can get costly.
"I think for many people where, hey, $25 is their tank of gas for the week or a couple weeks, it's transportation to work, half of a grocery bill, whatever it might be, where it might not as easy to solve that problem," he said.
Evan Mory is St. Pete's Parking Director. He said ParkMobile has been in place for 15 years in St. Pete and works well, but just like with any job, people can make mistakes.
"It's very rare for somebody to have paid properly and still get a ticket. Of course, everybody is human and our officers can make a mistake every once in a while," he said.
Mory said if someone suspects they were wrongly issued a parking citation, they can call the city's transportation and parking department, and it'll be handled on a case-by-case basis.
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