Parking Summons
If the City has not received a full payment on your parking ticket after you receive a notice of pending summons, the City will mail a parking summons that describes the offence, explains what you must do in order to respond to the summons, request you to appear in municipal court on a specified court date and explains that if you fail to appear on your specified court date that you may receive a default conviction in your absence.
After receiving a parking summons, you can either pay the fine listed before the specified court date so you don’t have to go to court or you can appear for your first court date to either plead guilty or not guilty to dispute your ticket.
Multiple summons
If you have been mailed multiple parking summonses by the City, you can contact the City of Regina to have all matters addressed during your first court date instead of appearing at court several times.
First Court Appearance
You must appear in court the morning of the date listed on your parking summons. If you do not appear on your trial date and you do not request an adjournment, a default conviction may be entered against you concerning your parking violation.
All parking offences are dealt with in Courtroom 9 on the 3rd floor in the Provincial Courthouse at 1815 Smith Street, Regina.
Municipal Court is held on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. When your case is called, you (or your agent) will be asked whether you wish to enter a plea of either guilty or not guilty.
- Guilty: You can explain the circumstances surrounding your parking ticket, so the court can take it into account when determining your sentence. At this time, you can also ask the court for a lesser penalty and/or an extended amount of time to pay the fine. If you intend to clear the fine through the Fine Option Program, then it is important to ask the court for enough time to pay so that you will have enough time to clear the fine.
- Not Guilty: You can request a trial to hear the evidence from the City of Regina and to provide evidence to the court.
Request a Trial
Once you enter a plea of "not guilty", a trial will be set for a later date agreed to by both you and the City. Having the trial at a later date enables both parties to bring witnesses to testify about the incident. On your trial date, you should be prepared to present your case, including having any witnesses present at the trial to testify.
At Your Trial
You are required to appear in court on your trial date. The Justice of the Peace will call your name out and ask if you are prepared to proceed with the trial. At this time, you may either agree to proceed with the trial, request an adjournment or change your plea to "guilty."
If you decide to proceed with the trial, the Justice of the Peace will hear your case. All testimony heard at a trial is taken under oath and is heard in the order listed below:
- City’s case: The City, which is referred to as the Crown in these proceedings, must first prove its case against you. The Crown’s witnesses testify first and usually includes the Issuing Officer who issued the parking ticket. After the Crown has completed questioning their witnesses, you can ask the witnesses questions.
- Your defence: You can call your witnesses to testify and/or you can testify in your own defence. The witnesses for your defence must appear in court on your trial date since witness statements are not admissible in court. You can also present any additional evidence, such as photographs or other documents.
- Summations: After all witnesses have testified and all evidence has been presented, you will be asked to provide a summation or summary of your case. After your summary, the Crown will provide its summation.
- Decision: After hearing all evidence from both sides, the Justice of the Peace will render a decision.
If you do not appear on your court date and you do not request an adjournment, a default conviction may be entered against you concerning your parking violation.
Can't Attend Your Court Date?
Your parking summons will list a court date in which you must appear. If you cannot attend your court date, either:
- Contact the City of Regina to arrange an earlier court date
- Arrange for an agent to appear on your behalf. Make sure to provide your agent with instructions as you will be bound by whatever your agent does or says at court.
If you or your agent do not appear for your court date or trial date, the court will enter a default conviction against you. A default conviction deems you guilty of the offence and you must pay the fine issued by the court.
Default Convictions
The Justice of the Peace enters a default conviction when you do not appear on your court date. A default conviction can be entered without holding a trial and it in effect deems you guilty of your offence.
You will be notified by mail after a default conviction is entered against you. This notice will list the date set by the court for you to pay the fine listed in your default conviction letter. If you do not make your payments before the date listed in your Notice of Deemed Conviction Letter, the City of Regina:
- Will impose a $40 late payment charge per parking ticket
- May register a lien against your vehicle(s)
- May seize, impound and sell your vehicle(s)
Note: If there were unusual circumstances or reasons why you could not appear at court, you can apply to have your case re-opened. To do this, you must complete and submit a re-opening application form within 30 days of becoming aware of your default conviction.
