Are you on the tow-list? If you owe a lot of parking tickets, you might be

It's now happening more than ever before: Islanders are getting towed for excessive amounts of unpaid parking tickets.

However, Charlottetown police say it's nothing new and the city's traffic bylaw allows it.

The reason it's happening more frequently than it has in the past is because of a new license plate recognition (LPR) technology, allowing patrol cars to identify cars with a range of violations, including — but not limited to — parking violations.

"These are instances where people have been identified to be put on what we call our tow-list for unpaid parking tickets that have already gone through a process of unpaid fines, failed to respond to summonses, that kind of due diligence," said Deputy police Chief Brad MacConnell. 

"So it's just not like someone doesn't pay their parking tickets and they're put on the list. There's quite a bit of due diligence on our part to try to deal with the circumstances before it has to come to that."

50 vehicles towed

The use of the technology is a pilot project. It started in January when cameras with the LPR technology were installed onto one patrol car. 

Since the beginning of the year, police have identified and towed more than 50 vehicles with excessive unpaid parking tickets that might not have otherwise been identified, explained MacConnell, adding that that's a significant increase from before.

He explained that typically, a person on a tow-list would owe several tickets, usually owing a minimal amount of $100.

On the tow-list

Amila Topic says she found herself on the tow-list a couple of weeks ago. 

"I was driving home from work, and a police officer pulled me over and asked me if I knew why I had been pulled over, which I didn't. I wasn't speeding at the time. And notified me that I was on a tow-list because I was owing on two parking tickets and then proceeded to tow my car," Topic explained.

She said she was completely unaware that she had outstanding parking tickets in the first place, but that since she had recently changed addresses, it was possible that notifications were sent to her previous place of residence. 

Her car was towed, and she walked home.

She waited until the following day to pay her $100 fine and pick her car up from the towing service, which cost her an additional $120.

'I definitely understand why'

Topic said she knows she's not alone. She explained that some of her friends have also had their cars towed in the last month.

"I definitely understand why they're doing it," she said. "But there is a little bit of humour in it now that so many people are getting cracked down upon."

Though it was an inconvenience, getting her car towed was a learning experience for Topic.

"If you don't want the inconvenience of having your car towed and having to wait until the following day and pay some extra fees to get your car back from whoever was towing it. Just go right now and pay whatever parking tickets that you have and save yourself the inconvenience," she said. 

Creating 'behavioural change'

MacConnell has a similar message to the public.

"At the root of it, I want them to know that this is about trying to create behavioural change. We want people to pay their tickets. First of all, we don't want people to get tickets, we want them to be compliant. But if they do get tickets, then we want them to pay them," MacConnell said. 

"It's about behavioural change."

He also said that the last thing the department wants to do is tow vehicles, but explained that sometimes it's necessary.

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