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Finding parking in the city can be hard enough. After searching, perhaps driving around the block a few times, you finally find a spot, maybe on the street or in a city-owned lot, to park your vehicle. You make your way over to the closest parking machine only to find it isn’t working. The last thing you want is to have to move your car, so what do you do?

Brian Moniz, a parking enforcement supervisor with the Toronto Police Service, said you should look for the next nearest pay-and-display parking machine and use that one. “There is an expectation that you should try and purchase a ticket nearby,” he said. “Many blocks have two machines on the block, or maybe across the street or on another block.”

If there is only one machine in the area, and it is broken, Moniz said you can park there for a maximum of three hours, but you should also contact the city using the number posted on the parking machine to let them know it is broken. He said parking enforcement staff will check the machine to make sure it isn’t working before they issue a ticket.

“In most cases, not all, if the machine doesn’t work it flashes red to indicate it is out of order,” Moniz said. “For example, if it ran out of paper or there is an internal malfunction it will flash red.” But you can also have a situation where the light does not flash, like if there is an issue with chute the dispenses the ticket being jammed or blocked. this would not result in a notification, Moniz said.

If there is only one machine where you are parking, and it is broken, take a photo of it as well as calling the number, Moniz said. You may still get a parking ticket, but you can then follow the process outlined on the back of the ticket to dispute it. “The city is able to confirm if a machine was broken. They are all electronic and report to a monitoring station and they would have the ability to verify that and possibly cancel the ticket,” Moniz said.

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