You can always fight a parking ticket or traffic ticket in court, but it’s not always easy to make your case when your car is booted for parking on private property.

Devin Cashin knows that all too well.

He parked in a parking space at St. Mary’s Basilica in Halifax Monday night, certain it was a public space. He was surprised when he returned to his car a short time later.

“There’s a sign indicating public parking in rear, so it just lets you pull back there. Seems legit,” says Cashin. “We’d been gone 10, maybe 15 minutes, we came back and boot on the tire.”

It cost Cashin $92 to have the boot removed from his car.

He later noticed other parking signs in the lot, warning motorists against parking in the area, but the signs vary, and their placement is confusing. Cashin says the signs could lead some motorists to believe they only apply to certain areas of the parking lot.

Fr. John Williams admits he has some concerns about the signage too.

“I said people could be confused by a sign that says “public parking” when you get here,” says Williams. “There’s nothing to indicate that you could be ticketed.”

In response to the incident, the “public parking” portion of the sign that left Cashin confused is now covered up.

“They decided to cover up a portion of the sign so that there’s no confusion whatsoever,” says Dan Watson with One Shot Parking Solutions, which has been subcontracted to look after the lot.

Cashin says he has been unable to contact the company directly to make an appeal. However, CTV Atlantic was able to connect Cashin with One Shot Parking Solutions so they could discuss Cashin’s appeal.

A final decision on Cashin’s situation will be made at a later date.

For now, Watson says efforts are underway to make it easier for those who want to make an appeal to contact the company.