HOUSTON -- Each day and night, hundreds of drivers in Houston get towed because they parked where they shouldn’t have. 11 News analyzed the records for nearly 65,000 tows that took place between March and August this year and found the tow hot spots you should look out for.
The hot spots are often in areas where at night, people are heading to restaurants, bars or movie theaters.
People like Jonathan Salisbury. 11 News caught up with him as he walked along Westheimer near the slew of trendy restaurants and bars.
"It’s really hard to find a spot to park," he said.
On a nearby side street in the Cherryhurst neighborhood -- the 1600 block of California, to be precise -- 373 cars were towed in that six-month time period between March and August. That makes it No. 1 in the city for tows from a city street. The street is clearly marked with "No Parking" signs, complete with the car-and-wrecker tow symbol. But you have to look close at the hours: 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The No. 1 spot for tows from a private parking lot is in the 3900 block of Richmond. Records show 883 tows in six months from the lot there, which services a strip mall. The problem is, the lot is located right behind the big Edwards Cinema. To avoid paying at the parking garage adjacent to the theater, people park in the strip mall lot. The lot has signs at the entrances that say "CUSTOMER AND EMPLOYEE PARKING ONLY" and warn that violators will be towed. But that didn’t stop people when 11 News was there. Our cameras caught them parking in the lot then cutting across the street to the cinema.
Our cameras also caught what happens next: a tow truck swoops in and within seconds, hooks up and tows the violator away. It’ll cost the car owner far more than the few bucks they saved not paying to park in the garage.
11 News found examples of the high cost of getting towed at the No. 3 tow hot spot -- a private parking lot in the 1500 block of Lubbock. It’s on the edge of downtown, just a short walk from the Houston Municipal Court building.
Sam Elsaadi is one of many whose car was towed from that lot.
11 News caught up with him just as he discovered his car was gone.
"I’m pretty angry. If I wasn’t on TV I’d be cussing up a storm right now," Elsaadi said.
Elsaadi said he arrived there that morning to fight a traffic ticket at the nearby court building. He said he paid a parking attendant. But at lunch, he came out of court, drove his car to get food and then parked back in the lot.
He thought he was OK, but the lot manager said he wasn’t.
"He left at 12 o’clock and when he came back from lunch, he didn’t pay for his parking. And it tells you on the board," said Eligio Garcia of Ace Parking.
In fact, a sign visible from the lot says "DO NOT MOVE VEHICLE, NO IN & OUT PARKING."
But Elsaadi and others say they find all the rules confusing.
Another man who returned to the lot to find his car gone had parked after 12 p.m. The attendant was off-duty, which meant payments had to be made using an automated machine at the lot’s entrance.
"Can’t you see I made a payment," the man said in Spanish, holding up his receipt.
He had, but he’d also taken it with him. On the receipt, it says – in English – to display it face up on the dash.
To be fair, it did have the instructions in Spanish next to the machine on a sign. The sign had a total of ten lines of instructions, five each for English and Spanish.
Elsaadi and the other man were especially upset, because they’d paid to park in the lot. They just hadn’t followed the rules to the letter.
Their cars ended up at a storage lot three miles away. Elsaadi said he paid $191.36 to get his car back.
That adds up – 11 News found that in six months at just the lot on Lubbock alone, 461 vehicles were towed at a total estimated cost to car owners of over $88,000.
Other people who showed up to claim their cars couldn’t believe what it cost.
Jenny Fan Wiedemeir’s car was towed from a strip mall lot in The Montrose area near the Chinese consulate where she’d gone to pick up her father.
"I thought it was stolen," Wiedemeir said. When she got to the storage lot, she called HPD. Two officers showed up but said they couldn’t do anything for her. Who could?
"You definitely have options to get your money back," said Rich Robins, a Houston lawyer.
He takes cases to a special "tow court" at the Harris County Criminal Courts building, where a judge will hear the case and can order the tow company to pay back the money. The tow victim has to prove the tow was improper. Robins said the best way to do that is to provide photographs of the lot or street and show that there were not the proper signs.
"They’re supposed to be at each entrance way," said Robins.
But here’s the thing: at the top towing hot spots, there were signs. People just there parked anyway.
Maybe they wouldn’t if they knew how much it could cost them.
Maybe that should be on the signs.
This article was written using City of Houston data analyzed by Yang Wang, 11 News producer.
firedog said on November 5, 2009 at 7:33 AM
what a shame~~~~~
jiggy_poo said on November 5, 2009 at 8:11 AM
I don't like the new web site. Back to the old right now KHOU! As for the story, pay the garage fee. Remeber, it costs to floss.
staceylou said on November 5, 2009 at 8:31 AM
Read the signs. I know it is hard in our busy busy world but take a few minutes to look around. Not that difficult.
joneagle said on November 5, 2009 at 8:34 AM
Highway robbery I tell ya.
joneagle said on November 5, 2009 at 8:36 AM
oh yeah KHOU, this site now sucks! I like how you have an aritcle telling us to give our opinion but it says no comments at this time!! And like we have time to do the extra work of inputting this code words, c'mon!!!
peopleshero said on November 5, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Report issues regarding tow trucks or vehicle storage facilities to the Texas Dept of Licensing and Regulation. It is one of the few government agencies these people fear/respect.
1usa1 said on November 5, 2009 at 9:04 AM
Of course the receipt stated it in English, what country are we in?
kurtaz said on November 5, 2009 at 9:18 AM
Sign, sign everywhere a sign. If your not sure about a spot dont park there.
raizen615 said on November 5, 2009 at 9:45 AM
Hmm - why is it stupid people doing stupid things always make it into the news? No Parking means NO PARKING!
afort said on November 5, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Im sure many cant read English. I have been to Edwards many times. The signs are there. If I were the owners of the parking lots I would tow those idiots too. Its not fair to the customers. you are paying $10 to watch a movie, whats $3 for parking???? Just stupid people who want sympathy. And I hate this new site.
mediahater said on November 5, 2009 at 11:04 AM
What a waste of a story. It's a story of people being stupid ignoring signs then crying because they got caught.
texasgurl said on November 5, 2009 at 11:07 AM
This new website is terrible.
raymon said on November 5, 2009 at 11:18 AM
This web site is terrible and I will have to change to another if not back to normal!
texjoy said on November 5, 2009 at 11:26 AM
wow things have changed here! We don't have pics anymore. I like the old khou forum!
texjoy said on November 5, 2009 at 11:33 AM
testing new site to see if my pic is gonna show
sharjama said on November 5, 2009 at 11:34 AM
I saw this on tv this morning. I agree there are some cases where people just need to read. However, there are many locations that have an inordinate amount of rules some designed to trip up the driver and get him towed. Prime example is the Ace Parking featured above. No in and out? What kind of BS is that? I'd bet his brother, cousin, or something owns the towing service. PS. The new sight sucks.
texjoy said on November 5, 2009 at 11:35 AM
well it shows but not big enough to see it! pfft on this site! I'm changing to click2houston.com
texjoy said on November 5, 2009 at 11:36 AM
well it shows but not big enough to see it! pfft on this site! I'm changing to click2houston.com
richrobins said on November 5, 2009 at 11:46 AM
Justice is available, folks, and there is an attorney in Houston who gladly accepts these cases at basically no cost to victims. Know anyone who might be interested? For more information: http://www.IllegalTowingInHouston.com
whazo said on November 5, 2009 at 12:16 PM
We can expect this to happen more in the future. It's fashionable to provide as little parking as possible in new construction. . The goals are to mitigate flooding by limiting impervious cover, and encourage people to walk and take transit. . The unintended result is that people are encouraged to park illegally - or else drive a few hundred yards from one parking lot to another in order to avoid being towed.
cranky said on November 5, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Who sets the prices for towing? I would think $191 is a little steep to tow a car 3 miles. It only takes a few minutes to hook up to a vehical these days. I would say they are making over $400 an hour at this rate. The car lots are probably getting a large piece of the action. With small print and placement of sign, it makes it a money making racket.
dubie said on November 5, 2009 at 4:16 PM
go back to the old style and put the politics back in so i can keep up with corruption in d.c.
worldman said on November 5, 2009 at 5:07 PM
If the problem is because they cannot read English then they deserve to be towed. Learn english or go back to the "spit on the sidewalk country" you came from. The usual bloggers are no longere on this site and I suspect it is because of the new format that totally "SUCKS". I hope KHOU is reading these few blogs since no one is happy with the change.
hahaha09 said on November 5, 2009 at 5:54 PM
wait... so now the last post is at the end of the page??.... sucks....AND WE HAVE TO INPUT THE WORDS BELOW??.... where the hell are the thumbs up and down....this is my last post here....abc13 here i come
dubie said on November 5, 2009 at 6:23 PM
i seen on here where they asked how you like the new look when i stroll down to comment ,it said not posting comments at this time,probably wouldn, t want to see it anyway
ian807 said on November 5, 2009 at 6:33 PM
I'd love it if they started towing on Washington between Shepherd and Wescott. I've almost gotten into wrecks twice there when the street was unexpectedly blocked. The valet's apparently don't want to bother with side street parking. Wonder who's being paid off for that to continue?
howard1939 said on November 6, 2009 at 3:40 AM
I really like the NEW site, with a dial-up connection (Due to limited retirement budget), most network owned TV news sites take too much time to load.. As for parking, most lots I've seen, display PLAIN ENGLISH signs that state the towing company name & phone number, maybe there ought to be a posted towing fee set by the city.. If only parking lot owners would enforce the handicap parking zones in shopping centers to the degree that the lot in the 3900 block of Richmond..! Most people I see at grocery stores parking in handicap parking zones, are fully mobile & have no problem parking their SUV's & getting in & out of the stores with ease, while older folk who use canes or wheelchairs often have to park at the far end of shopping center lots to have room to get out of their car or unload their wheelchair.. Howard
yeahwhateva said on November 6, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Tow truck drivers tow cars ILLEGALLY more than half percent of the time. Unfortunately most average citizens feel so vulnerable and lost and just need the car back and end up paying all kinds of money they should not have. I strongly suggest all citizens to fight your tow, go to tow court, its well worth the 20 dollar filing fee. Prepare yourself with pictures of where you parked and surrounding signs and area. As far as Rich Robins, I highly recommend him. He fought my tow case and won and he is, believe it or not, NOT INTERESTED IN TAKING YOUR MONEY!!!
dmarie said on November 6, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Read the signs, thier everywhere! I know the tow truck guy. He's a personal friend of mine and he's just doing his job.