BECAREFUL WHERE YOU PARK

Terry Thomas was just doing a favor for her son Friday when she drove him into downtown Elyria so he could pay a fine at the Elyria Muny Court. Driving around downtown with the festival underway they were unable to find any parking spaces. Thomas spotted a parking lot at the corner of East Ave and Broad Street that only had one vehicle parked and about 8 open spaces. Thomas pulled in, dropped her son off and waited in the car. Several minutes later there was a tap at her window, a young man asked if that was her son that she had dropped off, she said yes. The young man said he needed her for something. The young man also said that he wanted her to move her car into a spot closer to Broad Street. Thomas moved the car then started heading towards Muny Court. While walking to the court she saw her son walking towards her, he asked her what she was doing. Once she told him what happened in the parking lot he was sure someone was going to steal their car. When they got to the parking lot they found their car hooked to a Perkel’s Tow Truck.

The driver of the tow truck informed Thomas that she was parked in a private parking lot and that he had to tow it – that is unless she had $100.00 on her and then he would drop the car. Thomas did not have that much cash on her, the driver asked where her bank was and when Thomas said First Merit the driver said he would meet her down there and wait for her to get the cash.

While walking to First Merit Thomas phoned the Police feeling that this was a scam being perpetrated by the tow service. Police Officers met with Thomas and Perkel’s were able to convince the driver to drop the car and leave without being paid. Thomas said she was advised by the Police to file a complaint with the Elyria Safety Service’s Director.

Businesses in the area of the parking lot say that they watch this towing service hide behind Conrad’s and will snatch cars up then wait for people to return to make the $100.00. Sharon Shaffer from Sarah’s Sweets said that they hooked a customer’s car before and demanded $100.00 to drop the car. The customer only had $50.00 in cash on them so they took that. “The sign even says that the maximum tow fee is $90.00, so how are they getting away with charging people $100.00? Plus you can sit here and watch them collect the cash and put it in their pocket and never hand out receipts. They will even hook up a car and hide it over behind Conrad’s or the chocolate place so they can quickly come back and get more. Just another downside of doing business in downtown Elyria.”

An attempt to reach the property owner was unsuccessful as he had already left for the day.