It turned out to be the most expensive hotdog in town.

A man parked by a street meat vendor in a bike lane on George St. was fined $150 by the three new parking enforcement officer (PEO) team assigned in a permanent capacity to ticketing vehicles blocking routes dedicated to cyclists.

In the minutes it took to ticket the man, eight cyclists were forced into live traffic while he blocked the lane.

The man argued he had an accessible parking permit for his daughter, which doesn’t apply, and then pleaded for a break from the Blue Hornets, with mustard in the sides of his mouth.

“There is no leniency. It’s the law,” said parking enforcement officer Kyle Ashley, the first full-time bike lane officer since June, who has been using Twitter to educate and name-and-shame the worst corporate offenders in the city.

On Bay St. an Iron Mountain recycling truck, the size of a bus, was in a bike lane and was ticketed.

Ashley said the truck would likely be there for an hour and the problem is logistically it would take longer than that to get a large enough tow truck to remove the vehicle.

“For a lot of companies, this is just the cost of doing business, but it forces cyclists into a live lane and puts lives at risk. Cars have air bags, bikes don’t,” Ashley said.

He’s had success with damning Tweets about Canada Post, which has now instructed drivers not to park in bike lanes.

Pedestrian Alex Kotyck, who drives and pedals, gave a thumbs up as the Iron Mountain vehicle was ticketed.

“I can see it from both sides, but we have to keep the city moving and you can’t when trucks park like this,” Kotyck said.

Cyclist Lisa Koo waved and gave a shout out to the three officers when she realized who and what they were doing.

“I think it’s great because its scary to ride in this city,” said Koo, who moved here five years ago from Vancouver, which she says is much more bike-friendly.

“I do think that not just drivers, but cyclists, could all use more education.”

While the downtown is problematic, even the suburbs have law breakers who just want to dash into a coffee shop.

“People who do it are rolling the dice,” said PEO Erin Urqehart, as she was shooing a cyclist off the sidewalk.

The new bike lane team will be on the streets Monday to Friday.

“Wherever there are bike lanes, we will go,” Ashley said.

kconnor@postmedia.com