Bylaw officers bury Ottawa motorists with tickets during 24-hour winter parking ban

Raised windshield wiper blades are seen above a blanket of snow covering a car in Ottawa, on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. A blizzard warning is in effect for the region with Environment Canada predicting between 25 to 40 cm of snow. (Justin Tang/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

A 24-hour parking ban to help city of Ottawa crews clean up from the record-breaking snowfall resulted in an avalanche of parking tickets for motorists.

The city of Ottawa issued a 24-hour on-street parking ban between 7 p.m. Monday and 7 p.m. Tuesday to allow crews to clear roads after 48 cm of snow fell. During a parking ban, only vehicles with on-street parking permits are allowed to park on city streets.

Ottawa Bylaw Services says officers issued 2,666 tickets for violating the winter weather parking ban on Jan. 18.

"During a winter weather parking ban, any vehicle that does not have an on-street parking permit that remains parked on the street is subject to receiving a ticket," said Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services Director Roger Chapman in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

"This is the case regardless of whether the plow has passed, as it is possible that a second plow run is necessary."

Chapman says officers "use their discretion" when issuing parking tickets.

The fine for violating the winter weather parking ban is $125, with an early payment option of $105. 

The parking ban this week was the second parking ban issued by the city of Ottawa this winter to help crews clear roads and sidewalks. A total of 1,709 tickets were issued for violating the winter parking ban on Dec. 6.

Ottawa Bylaw officers issued 22,042 tickets for violating the winter parking ban during the winter of 2020-2021.

Here is a breakdown of the tickets issued during the winter weather parking bans:

• Nov. 23, 2020: 5,995
• Jan. 2, 2021: 2,373
• Jan. 16, 2021: 4,177
• Jan. 21, 2021: 3,896
• Feb. 16, 2021:  2,777
• Feb. 25, 2021: 2,824