Get Marty: Man With No Car Baffled By Parking Tickets
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- William Flanigan knows the bus routes on the South Side.
It's how he gets to work, since he doesn't drive. He hasn't owned a car in decades.
That's why it came as a shock to Flanigan when he got a letter in the mail from a collection agency. They said he had unpaid parking tickets from 2010, on Sandusky Street on the North Side.
They say he owes $100 and that he had to pay or they could boot his car, ruin his credit and eventually issue a warrant in his name.
It gets worse.
He then got a letter from PennDOT saying he has problems with more than just one car. The PennDOT letter says he owns 14 cars.
PennDOT and the Parking Authority gave him the runaround. That's when a neighbor gave him a little advice.
That's when KDKA's Marty Griffin got involved. He took Flanigan's problem right to the top, to Parking Authority Director David Onorato. Within a few days, he found and resolved Flanigan's problem.
"There was a mistaken identity there," Onorato said.
Turns out there are several William Flanigans. The collection agency went after the wrong one. Now they will stop going after this Flanigan.
"They're removing all of the tickets and notices he received," said Onorato.
After reaching out to PennDOT about the 14 cars, the matter was resolved in a few days – another case of mistaken identity.
Flanigan says he feels better, in fact, "100 percent."
"I wouldn't know what to do," he said. "I'd still be banging my head against a wall."
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