College cracks down hard on illegal parking
By Julie Veinot
Move or be moved.
Charlottetown Centre's administrator made good on his promise
Thursday to tow vehicles blocking the main parking lot.
Two trucks from Shaw's Towing Service took five cars to a compound
on Mount Edward Road. Students must pay the $53 towing bill before
they can get into the driver's seat again.
Roger Vail checks each car for scratches before the tow truck
hoists the car's front wheels up on a wheel lift. That way, students
can't complain their car was damaged during the tow. For example,
he noted where part of the trim was missing on a white Buick
Century.
This is the first time this winter the college has taken a hardline
stance on parking. Last year between 10 and 15 cars were towed.
Vail sent out an e-mail to all college students Wednesday warning
if they didn't park properly, their vehicles would disappear.
That same day, a pregnant student had to call a taxi to get to
a doctor's appointment because her vehicle was blocked.
"Today the tow trucks are too busy to come and take your
car away," read the e-mail. "Tomorrow morning the tow
trucks will be here to clear the driveways."
Although students say there's no place to park, Vail compares
that to saying "I have to rob the bank. I have no money."
To avoid the parking hassle, he gets dropped off at the school
every day.
With 150 parking spaces available and 1,500 free parking stickers
handed out, Vail says students have one chance in 10 of finding
a parking place, much like buying a lottery ticket. A sticker
does not mean you will find a place.
It also doesn't protect you from being towed since several of
the towed cars had stickers.
"You may be our next contestant," Vail noted as a light
blue Mercury Topaz entered the lot.
The car left, though it probably didn't drive to the college's
extra lot near the Civic Centre. If cars keep blocking the parking
lot, their owners risk paying a $53 bill and retrieving their
vehicle from MacKinnon Brothers Service Centre on Mount Edward
Road.
"We will continue to perform this service so that those
who park properly are not blocked in," Vail wrote in a post-towing
e-mail Thursday.