In your opinion...what does "No Overnight Parking" mean?

[CurlyGirl]

I was just discussing this with DH and he told me that his workplace has a "no overnight" parking rule. However, the company is open 24 hours a day with shifts around the clock. On top of that, the lot opens up to public parking during evening sporting events at the nearby stadium.

When you attend a sporting event, you have to have your car out by 1 am and it's clearly stated at the entrance. If it's not out by 1 am, it's towed. If you're in the lot as a worker, it's different. When you work nights, your license plate is listed with the night shift hours you work, so when security checks the lot they see your plate is on the schedule and it's not a problem. Well, it IS a problem if you switch shifts and nobody informs security that you're working an overnight shift. DH's coworker's car got towed a few months ago because her manager didn't list her as having an overnight shift!

The company picked up the tab for the towing and impounding but it was a real inconvenience to her!

 

[Poohforyou]

This isn't about the OP's son's situation.

As far as public streets, why do towns/cities care if people park on the streets at night ? I'm talking about places/streets where parking is okay in the daytime.

I've greatly enjoyed this thread on an otherwise dull Monday night .

Anyway, a lot of cities have alternate side of the street parking to make street cleaning and garbage collection easier when done overnight. That lot might not want overnight parking to give the garbage truck easier access to a dumpster.

 

[goofy!]

now what if the car was owned by the parents? dang sure I would be snatching the keys away. and what would a 18 year old living in my house dare to do to me if I did?

Once our kids are adults, we trust our parenting and them enough to decide for themselves what a good bedtime is. We expect a courtesy text if they are not going to be home before we wake up, just as we would text them if we were running late. But 5 minutes late for bedtime? If my kid can decide who is going to run the country, he can certainly decide what time to go to bed.

OP, I will say it again. Your child is beyond responsible to have figured it out and taken care of it by himself. What a mature young man! Go!

 

[MELSMICE]

In all seriousness - good job raising your daughter, to be honest with you.

Same goes to MaryAnnDVC, except with her son.

Thank you! So far......so good!

 

[bumbershoot]

He talked to his law teacher today...he's SOL. Case closed, lesson learned.

I wouldn't go with the law professor here. It's not a legal question; it's a private property and a towing company thing...I'd take it up with the parking lot and the towing company. Make sure they define their terms MUCH better. Also bring it to the attention of the parking lot owners that their towing company is being too aggressive.

Too regional and seasonal a description. So winter parking hours are shorter than summer? You can park longer the closer you are to the equator?

Exactly.

The receipt says the car was towed at midnight. When he went to the parking lot and the car was gone and he presumed stolen, he called 9.1.1. (Is that what you should do??? Doesn't seem like an emergency, but he's out on a city street with no car. Anyway...) 9.1.1. transfered him to the city police station. The police took his license and tag numbers, and found out it had been towed, and gave him the phone number for the towing company. He called the towing company at 12:18. The towing company was 1/2 mile away, and a friend gave him a ride. (They had gotten separated looking for parking spaces, and met up at their destination; the friend had found a parking space on the street.)

IMO the towtruck driver was either lurking (so they could have asked) or they took it earlier. I would have him follow up (might be a good use for the law prof...my sis in law gets HUGE results just by stating her profession, not even using any threatening words..."I'm an attorney" makes guilty people quiver, it seems).

This is where I'm coming from. A million years ago, I had a friend. He came over to my place at the time, a condo in a tiny town in western WA with its own private parking lot and parallel parking spaces along the road just outside of the condo lot, to watch Halley's Comet. He parked in one of the parallel spaces, which were not marked at all with hours, you could park there whenever you wanted. He was there too late, and ended up staying over. When he got up super-early in the morning to go to work in Seattle his car was gone.

Panic ensued, 911, etc etc etc. Hours later (maybe a day?) he tracked down his car at a towing place. I had to take him back out to the towing place, which was in an entirely different county than where it was towed. They gave a song and dance about how it was illegally parked, and they towed it for the city (town of 200), and all this stuff, but it wasn't illegal, people always parked their cars overnight there when staying at a friend's place, etc, he had done NOTHING wrong. The sheriff's office in the local community knew NOTHING about it...the office the next county over did. It was mystifying. He had to pay WAY more than $137. He never did anything about it b/c he lived over an hour away and he was a young man with longer hair who was in a band in Seattle (not a known band, but I'm just giving a description of him here...this was also the later 90s)...the county he would have needed to deal with was an old-school place and he got enough flak at the towing place for how he looked...he knew it wasn't going to go anywhere.

I was always, and still am, just SO annoyed for him. We aren't even friends anymore and it still bugs me. He car was towed for NO reason, he was lied to, his car was truly missing for quite a bit of time...but HE had to pay for it.



Since this wasn't a police situation, I would contact the lot, make sure of the intent behind their sign. Make sure they know that it's confusing and should be updated or explained. And if, by chance, overnight actually means OVERnight, meaning "don't camp here, don't leave it all night, this isn't for residents, but for short-term visitors to businesses in the area", then it lets the lot know that the company they've hired is in the wrong.

 

[Magic Mom]

New slogan... WWGD. What would Germany Do?

 

[5boyz]

If it is dark, it is night. My kid would be paying and getting a lecture and possibly keys taken away for being lazy not to find a spot without a warning sign.

Yeah but it is not "overnight".....10pm is dark but not overnight....

 

[5boyz]

Can you follow simple instruction??? for many the answer is no!

What were the simple instructions????? No overnight parking!!!!!

 

[5boyz]

Yep, it is harsh. Don't care how he interpreted the sign. If you don't know what the rules are then park elsewhere, duh.

If you are going to play stupid or be lazy about where you park your car, you will be treated accordingly to how we see fit.

Deliberately parking in a PRIVATE parking lot with a sign of "no overnight parking" and leaving your car there in the dark is not very wise.

Since he is 18 and came at me with a "story", he might get the keys taken away, just for that.

If he came at me saying, I messed up, I saw the sign and parked there anyway, I am sorry. I will pay for the ticket and take care of it. Then no keys taken away more than likely.

It is up to how the kid behaves as to how I go about with doling out the punishment.

In case 1, kid is not accepting responsibility for the actions. In case 2 he is and probably will not repeat the mistake.

God I feel sorry for your children!!!

 

[5lilfish]

I will flush the keys, rip up his "A" report card and honors designations and refuse to allow him to walk across the stage at graduation (because he's stupid and lazy and has obviously learned nothing) and forbid him to go away to college (how WILL he survive???). And as God is my witness, he will NEVER park a car in Germany!

Classic!!

Jess

 

[5boyz]

one of the funniest things i have read on the dis!


I would share my full story with you but this thread has taken a turn for the ugly and i can assume i would be attacked. I will say that some friends and i did the exact same thing at the age of 18 and we were actually in another country (canada). I assure you, we did not handle it as responsibly as your son. To this day, i am pretty sure i might be wanted in canada! Kudos to your son for handling it the proper way. I wish i would have been more responsible back in the day. I recently told the story to my 82 year old mom who said she has lived all these years without knowing the truth and she would have preferred that i kept it that way.

lmao!!!!

 

[TeresaNJ]

I think that without the hours listed, one can't prove what is considered "overnight" parking. I would fight it.

 

[5boyz]

Well personally before parking I would have used my phone (but pulled over first!) to google various definitions of "overnight" all over the world. I would then have called the non-emergency police number to verify with them which definition applied to my area. After that, I would write a precautionary note to stick on my dash detailing my phone call and research results, but check on my car every 5 minutes to be safe.

It may seem like overkill, but I sure don't want to get beat again for my out of line behaviour!!

I'm lovin this thread too!!! Sorry OPs DS that your dilema (SP) has made so many people's day....

 

[Becky2005]

This isn't about the OP's son's situation.

As far as public streets, why do towns/cities care if people park on the streets at night ? I'm talking about places/streets where parking is okay in the daytime.

I have no idea other than possibly to keep non-working cars off the road.

I know in the town I grew up you can't park on the street I think it's from 3 AM - 7 AM or something like that. HOWEVER, let's say you are having your driveway sealed & can't park in the driveway..you can call the police department let them know & they will make a notation of it and will let you park overnight. I really don't think they care that cars are parked there, it's more or less a way to keep cars from you know being rebuilt in the streets.

The town I live in now allows overnight parking but only "24 hours" so you can't leave your car out on the street for a week. You CAN & you might not get a ticket (I know there was a car parked across the stree for about 3 days & it never moved -- yes, I was home during that time & unless it moved during the 5-10 minutes it took me to take the kids to school & parked in the exact same spot -- it didn't move!). I never saw a ticket on it.

HOWEVER, our street is also what they call a Snow Route with signs posted so if there is 2" of snowfall you best move your car no matter if it's during the day or night. Not only will your car be plowed in, you will end up with a ticket. They don't mess around with the snow routes -- you can always tell when snow is predicted...the masses of cars that are normally parked on the road are GONE (always seems to be 1 or 2 though & those is usually buried under a pile of snow the next day!).

We just found out recently that you can't have a car with a "For Sale" sign in it's window parked on the street. I had NO IDEA that was a rule, we only found out because we were looking at a car that had been down the street and was talking to the seller. Apparently he had a visit by the police letting him know that was illegal. If it's in your driveway that's fine but can't be on the street.

 

[mjkacmom]

This isn't about the OP's son's situation.

As far as public streets, why do towns/cities care if people park on the streets at night ? I'm talking about places/streets where parking is okay in the daytime.

No parking here from 3 am - 6 am. I think it's for safety reasons? The cops patrol, and will ticket.

 

[shortbun]

I would fight it if I was him. At least make some phone calls. I would not discuss it with the police but instead go to the local council, tourism board, etc. They should have a way of marking tires then coming back. Overnight is certainly NOT midnight.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think that without the hours listed, one can't prove what is considered "overnight" parking. I would fight it.

I would fight it if I was him.

Again, there's nothing to fight. While the police were aware of what happened to the car, the were not involved at all - except, apparently, that they received a report from the towing company.

The towing company performed a service and needs to get reimbursed for it. It's reasonable to expect the owner of the towed vehicle to pay that amount plus any related fees.

 

[5lilfish]

Again, there's nothing to fight. While the police were aware of what happened to the car, the were not involved at all - except, apparently, that they received a report from the towing company.

The towing company performed a service and needs to get reimbursed for it. It's reasonable to expect the owner of the towed vehicle to pay that amount plus any related fees.

You could fight it legally...as in through the courts, but that would probably cost more in time and money than $137.

Jess

 

[disykat]

I can't believe people are still talking about this. Teach your son that if it is not clear whether parking is allowed, don't park there. Like some other posters, I'd be irritated with my child for getting my car impounded. (Happy he figured out what to do, but still thinking he shouldn't have parked there.)

I honestly can't believe all this "fight it - the sign wasn't clear" stuff.

Arguing that he wasn't there "all night" only when he was caught is just silly IMO.

With this argument, there's no such thing as ticketing for overnight parking because if they were caught before the night ended they didn't stay overnight. Yet, if you caught them in the morning how do you prove what time they came? I'm guessing people would expect video surveilance tapes proving their presence "all" night?

 

[kaytieeldr]

You could fight it legally...as in through the courts, but that would probably cost more in time and money than $137.

Jess

Fight what? The towing charge? The car was towed. There are charges connected with that - charges the car owner has to pay to get it back. The car owner (well, driver) did pay and did get the car back. Case closed. Even the Law Professor says so.

The private parking lot owner has an agreement with the tow company to - apparently - tow cars that are parked there at/after a certain time of night. The "No Overnight Parking" sign is considered sufficient warning by the lot owner, the tow company, the police (who were involved only in that they got a report from the tow company, likely so they don't send out an officer to investigate a not-actually-stolen car), and the law professor. MidnIght is a reasonable time to presume any vehicle parked there is violating or ignoring the sign.

Again, nothing to fight. Car towed, tow charge paid, car returned.