N.Y. Paper’s Report on Parking Rules Stirs Trouble

Drivers who read a newspaper’s traffic column to avoid getting parking tickets had their plan backfire because of an editing error.

The Gridlock Sam column in Wednesday’s Daily News said that regulations allowing parking on only one side of a street would be suspended Thursday, but they were not.

Readers ended up with $25 and $50 tickets.

On Friday, the News ran a correction, saying the mistake was an editing error and informing readers that the city said its judges “will take the mistake into account.”

“We had the wrong day in there,” news editor Lou Colasuonno said. “It was a mistake. A lot of people look at (the column). . . . We feel terrible about it.” He said the paper received about 100 calls from readers.

Officials at the city Department of Transportation told motorists to send tickets, along with a copy of the column, or correction, to the Parking Violations Bureau.

Gridlock Sam, a daily column with road and traffic information, reported accurately that alternate-side-of-the-street parking regulations would be suspended on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We just went one day too far,” Colasuonno said.