Tamaqua Chief of Police Rick Weaver announced that effective March 1, the department will no longer excuse parking tickets for "jammed" meters.

The department has been refunding such ticket payments, but it has proved to be "time consuming and inefficient for the department," according to the chief.In the past, if someone was unable to put money in a meter and received a ticket, the motorist had to pay the ticket, then have a borough worker check the meter. If the meter proved to be inoperable, the money was refunded.The number of jammed meters has risen considerably in the past few months, whether by accident, intentional abuse or mechanical problems. A motorist who finds a meter to be jammed, should move to a functioning meter and notify the borough or police about the broken meter. To report a broken meter, call 570-668-5000.