Crowds flock to beat deadline for PPA's parking ticket amnesty program

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - A long day of waiting turned into frustration Monday night. It was a chaotic scene when the deputy director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority suddenly announced after 8 p.m. that not everyone would be served tonight. Yes, they could come back tomorrow or Wednesday. For those waiting for much of the day it's not what they wanted to hear.

READ MORE: PPA announces amnesty program eliminating tickets before 2013

It was worth this long wait for so many for the promise of amnesty. All their unpaid parking tickets before 2013 forgiven if they pay the more recent ones. Even in cases where they claim the city was clearly mistaken.

Legit or not--there's no doubt that all this waiting has led to some grumpy people and in one case a woman collapsed.

Most want to know why this couldn't all be done online. The amnesty program kicked off March 1, but many insist the website just didn't work.

We caught up with the deputy director of the parking authority for some answers. She says the issue is clearly that everyone waited until the final hour. Online registration did end and she insists it worked.

"It's not an issue about a computer glitch. It really is matching people's identity because I don't want to give you the tickets for a John Smith that is not you," she said.