Mall’s towing policy is questionable
One of my relatives parked her car at a shopping mall (where we normally get pizzas) on Good Friday and left on an outside errand. When she returned, her car had been towed to a place two kilometres away. She was forced to pay $350 in cash to get her vehicle back.
There were few vehicles in the lot, as most stores were closed. Is this ethical? The only time I’ve had to appear as a defendant in a court of law was after I chose, in a fit of Sabbath pique, to have a car towed from our church parking lot. The lot was properly signed, but this guy had been parking there for weeks.
We put polite notes on his bucket-o-bolts and, when those failed, we called the cops. All to no avail. That municipality had no bylaw preventing parking in lots such as ours, so the cop said: “Tow him!”
I did, the owner charged the church with illegal towing and — believe it or not — we were found guilty. Now, before you waste excess sympathy on our wretched plight, you should know we were fined exactly $1 — and Felonious Parker was warned by Hizzoner never to show his sorry puss in his courtroom again. Sometimes, to quote Charles Dickens’ Mr. Bumble, “the law is a ass.”
You will, therefore, understand why I have some sympathy for the mall owner. Mall lots are private property, not public facilities. The right to park is limited to at-thetime customers; lots are usually signed to that effect. Nowadays, most municipalities have bylaws permitting owners of such land to enforce those conditions. Abandoning your car in a mall lot, jumping on the subway and returning six hours later is essentially the same as leaving it in someone’s driveway while visiting their neighbour.
So yes, in that strict sense, it was ethical to remove the car.
But another principle of ethics (warbled so lyrically by the Mikado) is “let the punishment fit the crime” — and in this case, the penalty was outlandish.
Unless your relative was driving an 18-wheeler, $350 is an outrageous cost for a two-kilometre tow.
Then the towing company required that she pay the bill on the spot, in cash, before releasing her car. They had no right to do that. That’s bullying, pure and simple. Had your relative been unable to pay or chosen to contest the charge, the company needed to release her car and pursue payment through normal channels available to any other business. The dentist doesn’t hold your kid hostage ’til you pay for her filling. By what right does the Happy Hooker garnishee your wheels?
And finally, it was Good Friday, and while that doesn’t make parking on private property OK, the stores were closed. That makes the mall’s action ethically, if not legally, shaky.
There’s no point trying to deal with the towing company; that’s like spitting into the wind. Your relative should speak to mall management. Remember — the towing company was acting as its agent.
Ask for partial redress for the outrageous charge. If none is forthcoming, order your pizza somewhere else. And park on the street. Send your questions to star.ethics@yahoo.ca