Park At A "Failed" Parking Meter For Free -- But At Your Own Risk

It's a popular question, most recently tackled by the L.A. Times: Can I park at a meter that reads "failed"?

(Check out the LA City Nerd's answer -- as well as other L.A. parking tips -- in this post from last year.)

The Times' answer? "Yes, as long as you don't exceed the posted time limit."

But wait, there's a caveat:

That said, meters that read "failed" have a nasty habit of sometimes resetting.

In other words, you may be sitting in Starbucks thinking the meter is showing "failed" when it is actually showing you have two minutes left.

Other meters show bizarre behaviors along those lines. Harley W. Lond, managing editor of the Hollywood Reporter, wrote to tell about the time in Brentwood when he pumped four quarters into a working meter.

"It seems that after we put in our money, the meter 'failed,' then reset itself, and we got a ticket," he wrote.

Ouch.

The paper also answers another often-asked question: How easy is it to win an appeal of a parking citation?

The answer? Um, not easy:

Although not a broken meter story per se, the best reader tale came from Judith Linde, who was cited by a Los Angeles parking enforcement officer in October for not having a front license plate.

The problem, Linde said, is that her car had a front license plate. She even flagged down another traffic officer who agreed with Linde that her car was wearing a plate.

After her son, an attorney, wrote to the city's parking violations bureau appealing the ticket, Linde received a response: send $10 and a photo of the car with its front plate and the city would drop the original $25 citation.