Autocorrect blamed as Florida woman gets ticket for parking 1,000 miles away
A Florida woman was ticketed after unknowingly paying for parking in Detroit while visiting a beach in Volusia County.
Patricia Dennis parked herSUVnear Toronita Avenue Beach Park in Wilbur-By-The-Sea and used her phone to pay the $20 fee through Volusia County’s new automated parking system.
However, due to an autocorrect mistake, she ended up sending her payment to a lot in Michigan and she wasn’t the only one being affected.
The code for that beach lot was “FWW,” but when Dennis typed it into her phone, autocorrect changed it to “FEW.” That small change sent her to a Detroit payment portal with a Smart Park logo and the address “2800 Woodward,” a vacant lot near Little Caesars Arena where theRed Wingsplay.
Autocorrect leads to parking tickets
“I don’t know that I’ve ever been to Detroit,” Dennis toldClick Orlando. “I never saw anything on my phone that mentioned it was for Detroit. We’ve got all our stuff in our arms. We’re ready to go down to the water.”
Because her payment went to the wrong system, Volusia County’s system had no record of it and automatically issued her a citation. She tried to appeal the ticket online but was originally denied.
Dennis opted to write a $120 check to Volusia County to cover the cost of herparking fineand late fees, but ended up reaching out to the media regarding her concerns.
After news inquiries, county officials acknowledged that other visitors had experienced similar autocorrect problems.
They have since changed the beach’s parking code from “FWW” to “FW1” to avoid future issues. Signs throughout the lot have been updated, and Dennis’s ticket was dismissed.
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