Car owner buried under $380 ticket, tow even though there’s no snow

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This article was published 05/02/2024 (584 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There may be no snow on the road, but that won’t stop the City of Winnipeg from ticketing and towing your vehicle if it is parked on a snow route.

Ashton Zorn is facing a $250 fine and $130 towing charge after leaving his truck parked on the bare pavement in front of his residence on Fleet Avenue overnight Sunday.

“Honestly, when I woke up and looked outside I thought my truck had been stolen,” he said Monday, a few hours after picking up his vehicle at a St. Boniface impound lot. “I called the police to report it and they looked it up and found the city had towed it because I was parked in a snow route.

“I didn’t even consider there was a snow ban still on — there’s no snow.”

“I didn’t even consider there was a snow ban still on — there’s no snow.”–Ashton Zorn

The city implemented its annual winter route parking ban Jan. 16 in the wake of the first large dump of snow.

A Jan. 10-11 storm brought some 15 centimetres and resulted in the plowing of every major and residential street in the city in the days that followed. The plowing operation wrapped up Jan. 17.

Since then, Winnipeg has not only not logged another flake of snow, but experienced warmer than normal weather, with the mercury hitting 8 C last week.

According to the city, its annual winter route parking ban begins “when weather conditions require it,” anytime between Nov. 1 to the last day of April.

The ban means vehicles can’t park on designated streets between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Before the city implements the ban, it gives residents seven days notice. Once it is in place, it stays on until the end of April — whether there is snow or not.

Zorn said the city slid a yellow ticket under his windshield wiper at 4:05 a.m. and by the time he was outside with his dogs at 5 a.m., a tow truck had hauled away his vehicle.

“If I was completely in the wrong here, and there was snow on the street, I would feel more angry at myself,” he said. “But when there clearly is no snow, I just feel like I’m being fleeced by the city.”

“It definitely looks like a cash grab.”–Gage Haubrich

Gage Haubrich, Prairie director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, agrees.

“It definitely looks like a cash grab,” Haubrich said. “The city really should have used common sense. It hasn’t been a snowy winter. Why not just give a warning or a ticket and leave the vehicle there? Instead, they chose the worst possible option.”

Haubrich said what’s worse is the taxpayer is stung twice — they pay for the city personnel who issue the tickets and then taxpayers have to travel several kilometres to towing compounds to pay again to bail out their vehicles.

City spokeswoman Julie Dooley said this year’s annual winter route parking ban was the latest it has ever been declared, but it’s a short record.

“2023 was our first year with a flexible implementation date,” Dooley said. “Prior to that, it began annually on Dec. 1, whether or not it was required.”

Dooley said while vehicle owners may wonder about the necessity of the ban being in effect when there is little snow, the law is there for a reason.

“(The) ban applies whether is it snowing or not,” she said. “It also still applies if the street looks like it’s already been cleaned.

“(The) ban applies whether is it snowing or not.”–Julie Dooley

“This helps us during ongoing snow and ice control activities, which often happen, even if a street may have been previously cleared as part of a major operation. Crews can do a more efficient job if major routes are clear of vehicles overnight.”

Meantime, Zorn said, because it is a snow ban and there is no snow, there should still be some discretion.

“I’m not the only one who will be upset. I was at the towing compound by 5:30 (a.m.) and the tow yard was full and vehicles were still coming in,” he said.

“My property taxes have doubled in the last five years, but I’m not receiving double the services. And now they’re hitting me with an idiot tax.

“It is frustrating.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca