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Numerous News 8 viewers contacted the '8 On Your Side Team' about parking tickets they were receiving in the mail from Philadelphia. The catch was, most of them have never even been there. So News 8 looked into the situation.
June Eisenberger is 83 years old. She requires around-the-clock care in her York County home and said she hasn't driven a car in almost 10 years.
"I've been in this chair so long, I don't even know how long I've been in this chair," said Eisenberger.
The city of Philadelphia has a different story though. Eisenberger was issued a parking ticket for illegally parking her car in April of this year at 1:30 a.m. in the Chinatown section of the city.
"I was never in Philadelphia," said Eisenberger.
Eisenberger did recognize the license plate number written on the ticket, GME.
"That's my husband's initials. George M. Eisenberger and he had a classic car and you could put on your license plate whatever you wanted."
But she said that car and license plate were sold 12 years ago after her husband died.
Another York County resident got a parking ticket from Philadelphia.
Tarah McElroy thought it was a scam so she checked with local officers.
"He told me that it needs to be taken care of and if I didn't take care of it they could issue a warrant for my arrest and come out and pick me up," said McElroy.
McElroy and Eisenberger had their tickets forgiven after presenting notarized statements to the parking authority proving they were not in Philadelphia.
"And I had my employer state that I was at work that day and my mom state that she had seen me with this vehicle that day," said McElroy.
During the last fiscal year, which ended in March, police and parking enforcement officers in Philadelphia wrote 1.8 million tickets. That generated $64 million in revenue.
State Rep. Stan Saylor said there is no other city in the state that generates as many questionable parking tickets as Philadelphia.
"That's a lot of money. I just want to know how much of it is legit," said Saylor. "They're dragging in money from the rest of the state through what I consider very bad, illegally written tickets from people who are intimidated and pay it."
Saylor said in many cases, people think it is easier and cheaper to just pay the ticket than to travel to Philadelphia to fight it.
On News 8 at 11 on Thursday, News 8 will ask the Philadelphia Parking Authority about all of this. Watch that report to find out their reaction.
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