Cambridge, Ont. woman who reported car stolen shocked to find out it was towed without notice

A Cambridge, Ont. woman whose car disappeared around the time she was hospitalized for a medical emergency is glad she’s been able to get the vehicle back, but concerned it took a tow company contacting her two weeks later for her to find out what happened to it.

Now Lauren Black’s been left with a $1,200 bill, and she’s worried the same gap in the system that her case fell through could leave others vulnerable to predatory towing.

Black’s weeks-long ordeal began on Jan. 30.

“I was having a medical emergency,” she said, explaining she pulled into the parking lot beside her apartment building.

“[I was] not really thinking about where I was parking, I just needed to get home and get to the hospital.”

Black spent four days in hospital before being sent home on bed rest.

“I wasn’t even thinking about checking on my car because I was in quite a bit of pain.”

CAR DISAPPEARS

On Feb. 4, Black was finally able to get out of her apartment for a walk. That’s when she noticed her car was missing from the lot beside her Cedar Street apartment.

“It just sort of felt that I was being kicked when I was down,” she said.

Black said she knew she was parked illegally in a private lot near her place.

Black said she knew she was parked illegally in the lot beside her Cedar Street apartment in Cambridge. (Jeff Pickel/CTV Kitchener)

“We called police, because what else do you do in that situation? And when the police came we asked if there was any possibility that it had been towed.”

Police told her they would be able to check if the car had been towed or ticketed. When they didn’t find anything, she filed a stolen car report with police.

A few days later, Black said she also checked directly with bylaw.

“They had no records of any Mazda being towed, not [just] my license plate in particular, but there were no Mazdas that had been towed in that time period,” she said.

NOT STOLEN AFTER ALL

Black had started an insurance claim for the stolen vehicle when she got an unexpected call on Feb 15.

A tow truck company phoned to ask when she planned to pick up her car.

It was a sense of immediate relief, followed by a sobering realization.

“Having my car found was great, but then realizing how long it was sitting in the lot, and having to pay for how long it was sitting in the lot, was not great.”

For the tow and storage ticket, Black is on the hook for about $1,200.

“If I had known that it had been towed, obviously I would have gone to get it a lot sooner, but I thought it had been stolen,” she said.

DOES A TOW TRUCK COMPANY HAVE TO TELL YOU IF THEY TAKE YOUR CAR?

The City of Cambridge’s bylaw department says its staff weren’t involved in the towing, which was ordered by the property owner, but they’re not sure why they were unable to find Black’s ticket.

“It should have appeared in our systems, sometimes it could have been a key error, so if the call taker maybe didn’t hear the license plate correctly,” said John Mattocks, manager of municipal bylaw compliance for the City of Cambridge.

As for the fact the city had no record of the tow, the bylaw department did have an answer for that.

John Mattocks, manager of municipal bylaw compliance for the City of Cambridge, says tow companies don't have to tell police or bylaw when they remove a vehicle from private property, but bylaw should have had a record of Black's ticket. (Jeff Pickel/CTV Kitchener)

“The City of Cambridge doesn’t regulate towing in the city limits, so there are no requirements to contact bylaw, to notify if they tow a vehicle, nothing exists like that,” Mattocks said.

Black is concerned that gap could leave the door open for predatory towing.

“If there isn’t a requirement that you need to let someone know when their car is being towed and where it’s being towed to, why isn’t there?” she questioned.

“If the car has been towed, you just don’t know where it’s gone or why it’s gone.”

Black said she was in the wrong to park illegally and has paid the $1,200 bill, but she hopes this doesn’t happen to others.

Asked what people can do to prevent similar situations, bylaw staff said residents can contact their elected officials.

“We definitely encourage residents to reach out to their mayor or council member when they experience these issues,” Mattocks said. “Those licencing regimes could put in requirements that require towing companies to notify police when they tow a vehicle, and we can also put controls around how much they can charge.”

Editor’s note: Lauren Black is the partner of a Bell Media employee.