From the ArcaMax Publishing, Weird News Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/weirdnews/s-565723-263329
CHICAGO (UPI) -- Chicago authorities say an error while testing
equipment led to a man with a license plate reading "0" receiving
about 170 tickets he did not deserve.
The Chicago Department of Revenue said it has been using "0" as a
placeholder license plate for testing parking ticket equipment and
officials were unaware Tom Feddor had that number as his official
plate, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Feddor said that beginning in 1997, his mailbox has been filling up
with citations for violations, including parking at expired meters,
parking during street-cleaning hours, running stop signs or traffic
signals, and parking a truck, recreational vehicle, bus or taxi on a
residential street.
Feddor said he went to the Revenue Department and the Department of
Administrative Hearings for help, but was unable to resolve the issue.
Hearing officer Zipporah Lewis made several calls to officials in an
attempt to help Feddor, but he said "the people she encountered at the
other end of the phone seemed to be annoyed and bothered by her. Most
tried to quickly end the call."
Revenue Department spokesman Ed Walsh told the Tribune officials were
unaware there was a "0" plate in circulation -- Feddor's family has
been using it for 40 years -- or that he was receiving tickets from
the equipment testing. He said the tickets would be wiped out and any
fines paid by Feddor would be refunded.
"The test violations should have been dismissed in the database. The
majority of the cases (Feddor) contested successfully. But we are
taking steps to rectify the situation so in the future an actual
registered plate number will not be used to do the testing," Walsh
said.