Vernon samosa bakery slapped with bylaw ticket during charity event
A downtown Vernon business owner is angry at the City after he was slapped with a ticket from bylaw officers yesterday afternoon while doing a charity event.
Joe Patel said, yesterday, June 21, City of Vernon bylaw officers came into his busy bakery, Samosa Joes, and issued him a $110 ticket because Beach Radio had set up a small table with an awning in the parking space outside his 33 Street store without a permit.
"The biggest thing is they embarrassed me in front of all my customers," Patel told iNFOnews.ca. "I had a whole shop full of customers."
While it appears the entire situation could have been easily dealt with, the overzealous bylaw officer instead issued a $110 ticket.
Patel says he told the bylaw officer he would ask Beach Radio to remove the folding table but the officer refused and went ahead with a ticket anyway.
The event was a fundraiser for the North Okanagan Youth and Family Services Society, whereby the bakery was giving 50% of its takings to the charity.
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The Vernon business owner said the original plan was to have a the society's tent outside his bakery in a parking spot on the road. He applied for a permit from the City for the tent but was told he needed $3 million in liability insurance so he kiboshed the plan.
Patel had also spoken to Beach Radio about his charity event who turned up and parked a Ford Mustang in his parking spot. The car is being raffled off by the radio station as part of a summer promotion and a small table and awning was set up.
He said the bylaw officer told him – in front of all his customers – that he'd been denied the permit but still proceeded anyway so was handing him a $110 fine.
Patel said he tried to explain that the Mustang and the table had nothing to do with him but to no avail.
The table was then moved to private property nearby.
At a time when the City is trying to attract new tenants, and shoppers, to the downtown core the incident doesn’t bode well.
And the City clearly understands that.
In an email to iNFOnews.ca City spokesperson Christy Poirier said it was "very unfortunate" a ticket was issued.
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"Usual practice for Bylaw Compliance Services is to educate and seek a solution of compliance, first and foremost," Poirier said.
The business owner doesn't understand why the bylaw officer couldn't have just allowed the table to be removed without a ticket being issued.
"It's embarrassing for me when the whole shop is full of customers and I get treated like this," he said.
While Patel is clearly furious at the pettiness of the situation he said he’ll just pay the ticket and won’t appeal.
However, he won't have to cough up.
"Bylaw Compliance staff have since reviewed the circumstances and are now actively working to resolve the matter in a more positive way," Poirier said. "We can confirm the ticket has been cancelled and Bylaw staff will be reaching out directly to the business operator and radio station to rectify the situation."
While the day didn't go as planned, the charity event did go really well. In three hours, he raised $1,349 selling hundreds of samosas.
Beach Radio was not immediately available for comment.
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