Description:Individuals who receive a parking citation and believe that extraordinary or mitigating circumstances warrant waiver of their parking fine may petition the Parking & Transportation Services Department for reconsideration. Parking citations must be appealed within 14 calendar days of the citation. Appeals may be made either in writing or electronically using the
web link on this page. We recommend filing your appeal electronically, since you will receive time-stamped email confirmation that the appeal was received. Written appeals must be made on the correct form available at the Parking Services Building. (Note: Warning citations are no-fine and cannnot be appealed.)
Late fees do not accrue during the period that the appeal is under consideration. If an appeal is not submitted within fourteen (14) calendar days, the right to appeal is forfeited.
The following are reasons that will not be accepted by PATS, the USF Final Appeals Committee, or the Student Government Supreme Court as reasons to dismiss or reduce a citation. This is not an all-inclusive list:
- Disagreement with the Traffic and Parking Regulations
- Ignorance of the Regulation
- Inabililty to find a valid parking space
- Operation of the vehicle by another person
- Patrollers failed to issue citations previously for similar violations (lack of enforcement)
- Tardiness to class and/or appointment
- Inability to pay fine (lack of money)
- Traffic congestion
- Received bad or incorrect verbal information
- Perception that designated parking area is unsafe
If you are going to file an appeal, please consider the following:
- Make sure your reason for the appeal is not one of those listed above.
- Prepare a concise written and/or oral argument not to exceed five minutes.
Only those persons or departments responsible for incurring the citation or the registrant of the vehicle cited may appeal a citation. The first appeal will be reviewed by a PATS Appeal mediator and adjucated based on the current PATS Regulations, and a letter of decision will be mailed.
If a non-student (person or department) is dissatisfied with the decision of the Appeals Mediator, they may make a final appeal to the USF Parking Final Appeals Committee.
If a student is dissatisfied with the decision of the Appeals Mediator, they may make a final appeal to the USF Student Government Supreme Court.
Final appeals may be made either in person to the appropriate committee (oral argument not to exceed five minutes), or in writing on the appropriate form or web-link. You may also request that your original appeal be forwarded to the appropriate committee. Final appeal requests must be made within fourteen calendar days from the date of the Appeals Mediator's letter of decision. Once a hearing is scheduled, and if you are unable to attend, you may re-schedule for the next available hearing date one time only.
The appropriate committee will review the matter and may dismiss, down-grade, or uphold the citation, but the committee may not contradict the prevailing parking regulations. The committee is the final appeal authority, pending review of dismissed citations by the Director of PATS for adherance to the prevailing parking and registration regulations.
If the citation has been paid, and is ultimately dismissed by appeal, a refund will be issued through the appropriate University refund process.