A routine stop turned into an $80 headache for a local driver after he says a downtown parking garage hit him with a steep “lost ticket” charge—despite having cameras that recorded exactly when he entered. He thought it would be a quick fix: show them the entry time, pay the real amount owed, and get on with his day. Instead, he walked out feeling like he’d just paid a convenience fee for the privilege of being inconvenienced.
“They literally have cameras at the gate,” he said, still sounding half-amused and half-annoyed. “How is it ‘lost’ if the system knows when I came in?” The garage operator, for its part, pointed to posted policy: no ticket, lost-ticket rate applies.
The moment he realized the ticket was gone
The driver, who asked to be identified only by his first name, said he parked for a few hours while running errands and grabbing lunch. When he returned to his car and reached for the paper ticket, it wasn’t where he thought it was. He checked cup holders, the center console, jacket pockets—the whole “I know it’s in here somewhere” routine.
By the time he reached the exit lane, the line behind him was growing, and he felt that familiar pressure to solve the problem fast. He pressed the call button and explained he’d misplaced the ticket but could share the approximate time he arrived. According to him, the attendant’s response was short: lost ticket equals $80.
“But you have my entry time on camera”
The driver says he asked whether they could just pull up the footage or use license plate records to verify his entry time. He’d noticed cameras positioned above the entry gate—pretty standard these days for security and, increasingly, payment tracking. In his mind, it seemed obvious: match the car to the timestamp, calculate the hours, charge accordingly…