The town of Bridgewater is getting serious about collecting its parking fines.
Beginning June 1, any $15 ticket not paid within 14 days will increase to $61.60.
Violators will have to appear in court to appeal the fine.
On top of that, Access Nova Scotia will no longer renew vehicle registration or driver’s licenses until outstanding fines are paid.
Mayor David Mitchell explains the change.
“Before we had a lot of trouble collecting parking fines because we didn’t really have the teeth in order to ensure that we collected that money. And now we do.”
Mitchell says getting caught without change won’t be an easy excuse anymore either.
The town now allows motorists to pay for parking by using a Hotspot app on their smartphone.
“You don’t have to worry about having change with you. You just open the app, you put in the meter number that you’re at. You select how much time, then you hit the button that says park and you go in.”
Bridgewater once again began enforcing parking restrictions on King Street this spring.
The idea behind the paid parking is to keep traffic turning over to get more people into local businesses throughout the day.
