Truck driver shocked after getting $750 ticket for illegally parking in Dixmoor lot
DIXMOOR, Ill. (CBS) -- Imagine the shock you'd feel if you got a $750 parking ticket.
That is the reality for one truck driver who decided to spend a night in a parking lot in south suburban Dixmoor. CBS 2's Charlie De Mar found out the issuance of the ticket was no mistake - but something still doesn't add up.
"Then I looked at it - $750 - you know, that's pretty expensive motel," said trucker Robert Tincani.
Tincani has been a trucker for over two decades. He lives in Ohio, but a recent route brought him to suburban Dixmoor on April 1.
"April Fools on me," he said.
It turned out to be the most expensive stop of his career.
Tincani was done driving for the night, and the nearby designated truck parking lots were full. So he parked in the lot for a strip mall anchored by an Aldi store.
But when he woke up the next morning, there was a ticket slapped on his truck. He said it was stuck to the window.
The ticket was for $750.
Tincani admits to parking illegally. The only signage was on the other side of the lot - and Tincani says he didn't see it.
Online, the Dixmoor Municipal Code calls for a fine of $100 for trucks parked illegally. But police say the code posted on its own village website is outdated.
They sent the new code, in which trucks prohibited on certain streets does come with a hefty $750 fine. The same violation in Chicago is only a $125.
Rosemont is $350. Calumet City also hands truckers $750 fines.
But the Dixmoor Municipal code references "trucks prohibited on certain streets." Since Tincani wasn't parked on the street, he argues he shouldn't have been hit with that ordinance or the $750 fine.
But the deputy chief for Dixmoor police says Tincani used roads that trucks aren't allowed on to get lot the lot - and therefore, he was ticketed correctly.
In 2020, we met truck driver Steve Martin. He was also stunned after receiving a $750 ticket while driving through Dixmoor on a street on which tractor trailers aren't allowed.
"I think it's unethical," Martin said in the 2020 report.
As for Tincani's ticket, his boss paid it. But he wants other's to be aware when traveling through the south suburban village.
"I'm a truck driver, and everyone assumes truck drivers are wealthy," Tincani said. "That's not the case. We aren't wealthy."
