The different distribution of city bylaw staff means infractions that had gone unchecked in the past aren't as likely to slip through the cracks anymore.
City bylaw services manager Guy Gusdal said there are now staff under his purview that work off hours.
"We haven't had people around during the irregular hours, but now we have some staff working non-traditional hours or working longer shifts," he said, noting those employees would find themselves without a place to park their vehicles during hockey games.
Residents who attended the last Spruce Kings regular season home game earlier this month were made aware of that fact after finding parking infraction tickets adorning their vehicles.
"It doesn't matter where you are and when it is, you have to park legally," Gusdal said, of the tickets issued March 10.
Brian Brown was one of those hockey fans who was ticketed. He acknowledged he was parked in a no-parking area - and that it wasn't the first time he had done so - but that he also wasn't parked dangerously.
He was suspicious about the timing of the blitz.
"The Coliseum is a city facility and they're kinda limited on the parking for it when they have a full event - and the last game of the season they had a full house for the first time ever - and everybody gets dinged," Brown said. "It makes you wonder. We're trying to encourage use of our downtown and we have a city facility and hockey, the BCHL, has good attendance."
"This wasn't the first time it was done," said Gusdal, noting warnings had been issued previously. "People are not willing to park half a block away, legally."
Brown was also unimpressed with what he said was a "money grab" - the ticket he received was for $50, which was handwritten and the printed $15 scratched out. Brown's ticket should have actually been a $25 fine he was later told.
It was for that reason that all the tickets issued that afternoon were refunded, said Gusdal, who further explained that bylaw officers have different ticketing software and were using old parking ticket pads that had the old amount pre-printed.
"Probably some of them were legitimate amounts, depending on the infraction," said Gusdal, who was away at a conference at the time and said the decision to refund all tickets was made by supervisory staff, "which was the prudent thing to do."
He stressed that it was never about generating revenue, but making people aware of the rules.
"We want compliance at the end of the day," said Gusdal. "If we can get compliance, then at the end of the day we're happy."
