Special Reports

CHICAGO (CBS) ― We all hate parking tickets. Close to three million are written in Chicago every year. CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman has been getting furious e-mails from viewers who say they got parking tickets they didn't deserve. So she started looking into bogus tickets and what she found out could make some parkers even madder.

"I work very hard for every penny, and in any economy I don't think I should just pay $60 to the city when I'm unfairly ticketed," Lisa Rauhecker said.

Lisa Rauhecker is one of many who flooded us with complaints after we began reporting on unfair ticketing practices.

"I was enraged that fellow Chicagoans were going through the same thing I'm going through which was dealing with tickets that are bogus," Rauhecker said.

Rauhecker got a "no parking during rush hour" ticket along Belmont last October.

"The only sign that was anywhere along the street was for snow two inches when there's snow on the ground," Rauhecker said. "It was October 1st, there was no snow on the ground."

Rauhecker sent in pictures to prove her point.

But a city hearing officer upheld the ticket, saying the photographic proof wasn't sufficient.

So what can you do? Your only recourse is to go to court. But it costs $124 to appeal a $60 ticket. Most people decide it's just not worth it.

But not Rauhecker.

"It's a matter of principle, I'm sick of getting ticketed for things that I haven't done," Rauhecker said.

In 2008, the city of Chicago issued 2.85 million parking tickets. Drivers who bothered contested 289,238 of them, and more than half - 154,923 - got dismissed by an administrative hearing officer or on appeal in circuit court.

"I think the system is obviously broken," said David Grubb.

Former United pilot David Grubb lives in Indiana.

He got a ticket in the employee parking lot at O'Hare for not having a front license plate. But Indiana doesn't require front license plates.

"My first thought was that the police officer didn't know the law and wrote a ticket by mistake, and so when I sent them the information back showing that my car was registered in Indiana, I figured they'd just drop it," Grubb said.

But incredibly, the city hearing officer did not know the law either and upheld Grubb's ticket, demanding he pay the $50 fine.

"I consider this to be harassment at this point because they were writing a bogus ticket that can't be enforced," Grubb said.

Then there's Christopher Langner, a visitor from New Jersey. He thought he found a legal parking spot on south State Street.

"There's a big sign saying no parking 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.," Langner said.

But he received a "no parking in the Loop" ticket written at 1:20 p.m.

"I didn't even know where the Loop was until I got this ticket, and I looked in a map and I realized that I wasn't even in the Loop," Langner said.

He's right. And after our inquiries about all the drivers, city officials said the hearing officer or ticketing officers were wrong. In effect, the tickets were bogus.

Now Rauhecker says a message needs to be sent to officers and other city workers who write them.

"That it's not tolerated, to stop doing it, to use a little common sense before they ticket cars," Rauhecker said. "Make sure that a law is being broken."

City officials say there will be some retraining of traffic aides, police and hearing officers about mistakes made in these cases.

Bottom line: If you think you got a bogus parking ticket, don't just pay it. Request a hearing. Remember half of the contested tickets are dismissed.

And the number one way to fight a ticket is to take lots of pictures to support your case.

Advice on Fighting Bogus Tickets:

• Check the ticket to be sure the blanks are filled in correctly. Mistakes like the address of the violation or the license plate of your car are grounds for dismissal.
• Check the violation you are being cited for. If it relates to no parking signs that are confusing, not visible or not there, it could be grounds for dismissal.
• Take pictures, preferably on the day of the violation, to document your case. If the issue is signs, it helps to take pictures of signs, or the lack of signs along the whole block. It is often not enough to just photograph the isolated spot where you parked.
• If your case involves other issues, send in evidence to prove your case. For example, if you get ticketed for not having a front plate on your car, and the reason it's not there is because you just had an accident that ripped off the plate, send in a copy of the police report documenting the date and time of the accident.
• If you have witnesses to confirm your case, ask them to write out and sign a short statement that you can send in with your other documents or present at a hearing.
• If your case is at all complicated, ask for a hearing in person rather than contesting by mail. That way you can answer any questions the hearing officer has. There's no way to do that by mail.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Editor's Picks

• Gay Celebrities
• Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!
• Celebs Who Lean To The Right
• Real Or Fake?