Senator Kim Wilson got a parking ticket on her Government car, but expects it to be cancelled because she understands Ministerial vehicles are exempt from fines. However, Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Ed Benevides later refuted the suggestion Ministers get special parking privileges in the congested city.And former Senator Walton Brown said everyone should face the same penalties for parking without permission.Sen Wilson's car, with the plate GP030, was parked in a one-hour zone outside the cathedral on Church Street when members of the public alerted this newspaper to the ticket yesterday. One even emailed a picture to the newsroom.There was no parking voucher or tag on display in the vehicle. Neither was there any on another Ministerial car, GP4, which was in the same bay. However, GP4 was not ticketed.Responding to inquiries by this newspaper, Sen Wilson, who is the Minister of Economy Trade and Industry acknowledged GP030 is her vehicle.In a voicemail message she explained: “What happened is that they have to change the licence plates and the wardens gave the ticket rightfully so.“It's no issue really. I've contacted the head of the wardens and she recognised that because it's my car, she told me bring her the ticket tomorrow and she'll sort it out.‘They've temporarily given me this car but they need to switch the licence plate, which I believe they're doing tomorrow, or the next day.”Sen Wilson added: “Normally the ministers, as you probably know, do not receive parking tickets.“The lady in charge of the traffic wardens quoted some diplomatic process so that the numbers of the ministers which they know in the system, GP1 to 11 or whatever do not usually receive a ticket.”She could not be reached for further comment on the situation.Asked about the “diplomatic process,” Mr Benevides said there was no such thing.“The only people that have immunity to park anywhere in the city are emergency vehicles on an emergency. There's no such animal as diplomatic immunity,” he said. “I can't speak to what the traffic wardens are told or not told. If they're told ‘do not ticket the cars GP1 to 20' which are the Cabinet cars and their support staff then there's nothing the Corporation can do about it.”He said that's because traffic wardens work for the Bermuda Police Service, not the Corporation.Mr Benevides added: “I've mentioned with the permanent secretaries that I would like to discuss various options because other people have asked the same question that you have.“I'm hoping we can work things out so that the public do not feel aggrieved and ask ‘why does one do it [park without getting a ticket] and one not'?“I don't think it's reasonable for anyone to expect that GP vehicles do not get tickets. They do, but I'm not privy to what the wardens are instructed to do.”Mr Benevides said one solution could be special parking spaces for Ministers in city car parks. Three spaces are already allocated to the Department of Education at Bull's Head although these are paid for.“I'm hoping we can come to an amicable decision so members of Parliament can do what they need to do and members of the public can do what they need to do.”In August, then-Senator Walton Brown admitted he had “a number” of unpaid parking tickets, as he does not like to leave meetings to move his car.However, he backed a new law increasing the fines from $50 to $75, with even stiffer penalties for non-payment.Sen Wilson, who was Attorney General at that time, said the “law will catch up” with people who have outstanding tickets.Mr Brown said last night he did not object to the tickets he got while on Government business, and accepted them as “just an additional cost of doing the job”.Asked if he backed the alleged informal policy not to ticket Ministerial cars, he replied: “No, I think everyone has to be held to the same laws. You can't have different laws for different people.”He added that he's made “significant progress” in paying off his tickets, but said the underlying problem was a lack of long-term parking spaces and too much traffic in the city.There were almost 38,000 parking tickets issued in Bermuda last year, according to Government figures.A Police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.