PROVO — BYU student Chris Kirkland says he was booted three times in one year.
Which is nothing unusual — BYU students are towed and booted every day for parking illegally.
But Kirkland is upset because he was booted for parking in his own numbered stall. He had a permit allowing him to park there, but he said the towing company ignored it.
Kirkland thinks towing injustices are so common in Provo he asked the City Council on Tuesday to make the towing and booting ordinance more restrictive.
Kirkland wants police to make public a record of all booting and towing that occurs in the city. Provo police traffic Capt. Dave Bolda says those records already are available to the public. Bolda does think, however, the towing ordinance could be more restrictive.
The current city code requires towing companies to have the landlord's permission to tow or boot any vehicle parked illegally at an apartment complex between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. After 11 p.m. the towing company doesn't need the landlord's permission to remove illegally parked cars.
Bolda thinks towing companies should be required to get the landlord's permission to tow cars day or night.
Kirkland says towing companies are ignoring the law and impounding vehicles during the day without the landlord's permission. Removing a boot usually costs $40, and towing fees are usually $80.
Kirkland thinks that because tow truck operators work off commission they often haul off vehicles that aren't parked illegally.
"Students don't know the law and they just pay the fine to get the boot removed," Kirkland said. "We just want the codes to be enforced."
Provo police say they are enforcing the law, and several major towing companies say they never tow or boot a car during the day without the landlord's permission.
In fact, most towing companies say they do little business during the day. Express Towing, for example, tows only three or four cars during the day and tows as many as 20 at night. Park Towing, which has contracts with about 50 apartment complexes, also tows far fewer vehicles during the day than at night.
Dave Freeman, who has a contract with Express Towing at his four major student housing complexes, says he never tows during the day. At night he has no problem towing illegally parked visitors who are out past the BYU curfew.
"One of the big misconceptions is that in some way the landlord benefits," he says. "It's the exact opposite."
Freeman said his management offices are flooded with complaints from students who feel they were illegally towed. While some complaints are valid, Freeman says students often don't want to admit they are wrong.
"The problem is nobody wants to take responsibility for their mistakes," Freeman said. "I don't think there are any towing companies who are intentionally trying to rip people off."
Freeman says he has caught students breaking into impound areas to put a parking permit on their car. A manager at Express Towing said the company's building is egged weekly and that people have driven through its gates to get to impounded vehicles. And managers at three major towing companies refused to give the Deseret News their last names because they fear harassment from students.
Since the towing ordinance was last amended in 1998, complaints to BYU's off-campus housing office have dropped dramatically. The office now receives fewer than 10 complaints a year.
The parking problem remains, says off-campus housing director John Pace, because apartment complexes often issue more parking permits than what they have space for.
Newer condo complexes were zoned for families driving one car, Pace said, not students driving multiple cars.
Most apartment complexes were built in the '60s or '70s, a time when fewer students had cars. Freeman said only three years ago he had enough parking spaces at the Riviera — which was built in 1968 — for all 600 residents.
Last year, 150 tenants at the "Riv" didn't have a parking space.
Freeman has leased additional parking from neighbors and banks, but when he runs out of permits, he must tell tenants they will have to find another place to park.
"I don't think there is a legislative solution to this problem," he said. "People are screaming really loud because it's killing them financially."
E-MAIL: jhyde@desnews.com