Los Angeles handed out over 12,000 fake parking tickets

Parking Ticket Controversy in Los Angeles

Los Angeles has amassed close to $1 million in fines from parking tickets issued for violations during street cleaning. Interestingly, this includes tickets handed out on days when street sweepers aren’t even present.

A recent analysis shows that many areas don’t have weekly street cleaning, yet citations continue to be issued at a rate of $73 each, almost as if the cleaning crews were actively working.

Over the last five years, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) has given out more than 12,500 of these questionable tickets, collecting nearly $910,000 from unsuspecting residents.

By diving into the city’s traffic data against the street cleaning schedule and routes, the report highlights these so-called erroneous tickets. Cross-referencing time and location data, it becomes evident that many tickets were illegitimate.

In light of budget constraints in 2021, street cleaning has been scaled back to every other week in numerous neighborhoods, even though some areas still see weekly services.

Typically, cleaning occurs in the first and third or second and fourth weeks of each month.

Under the “off week” rule, tickets aren’t supposed to be issued during weeks when no street cleaning takes place.

LADOT adheres to the Bureau of Street Services’ schedule, claiming that citations will not be issued if services are canceled or unplanned. However, occasional conflicts do arise when scheduled routes get canceled without prior warning.

Moreover, LADOT insists it regularly reviews its citation policies and actively removes incorrectly issued tickets.

A recent statement indicated that individuals who have already paid fines for these erroneous tickets will be mailed instructions on how to request a refund.

LADOT acknowledged the issue of wrongly issued street sweep tickets and emphasized its effort to resolve it by informing drivers about potential refunds.

While specific details weren’t provided about how many incorrect tickets have been dismissed or refunded, LADOT mentioned an overall decline in mistakes, stating that most of the 2,000 defective tickets from 2025 were indeed canceled.