Metro

Driver fumes over $115 ticket for parking next to a non-existent hydrant

She got hosed.

Upper West Side resident Amy Goossens was stunned earlier this month when she was hit with a $115 ticket for illegally parking next to a fire hydrant at the corner of West 73rd Street and Riverside Drive.

There was no hydrant. She had parked near a Fire Department call box — which is perfectly legal.

“This is a money grab!” the interior designer fumed to The Post. “I parked there and I live nearby. I know the rules and the streets real well.”

Apparently the NYPD cop who wrote the ticket doesn’t know the difference between a call box — tall, red towers that connect a caller directly to fire dispatchers, as opposed to 911 operators — and hydrants, which are short, stubby faucets that deliver water to fires.

The summons from a 20th Precinct cop states that Goossens’ black 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300 was parked in front of 252 West 73rd Street at 2:26 a.m. Jan. 7.

The NYPD cop who issued the summons claimed the UWS motorist parked her car near a fire hydrant.
The summons from a 20th Precinct cop states that Goossens’ black 2015 Mercedes-Benz C300 was parked in front of 252 West 73rd Street at 2:26 a.m. Jan. 7. Amy Goossens

The 20th Precinct traffic cop checked the box “hydrant” and noted Goossens’ Mercedes was one foot away.

Goossens said she “was pissed.”

“Even if you were a rookie cop, you have to know. So I took a few pictures,” Goossens said.

The Alabama native is no country bumpkin.

“I’ve been living in the city long enough. I’m a New Yorker,” Goossens declared. “I’m not going to put up with anybody’s sh-t. When you’re a New Yorker you know when somebody’s trying to f–k with you. You have to push back.”

Goossens said "even" a rookie cop knows the difference between a hydrant and a call box.
Goossens said “even” a rookie cop knows the difference between a hydrant and a call box. Voicu Sereda / EyeEm

Goossens challenged the ticket online with the city, submitting photos and an explanation: “I said, ‘Give me a break, it’s a f–king call box!'”

Her case is pending.