Impark Loss Prevention Specialist

[J-hop]

You did however say “most paid parking lots are not legal”. I can almost gauruntee you most lots in Calgary are properly permitted and 99.999999% of the cases I see on beyond are from major private parking companies which would no doubt be permitted.

I won’t argue the legality of forcing you legally to pay ( I agree with you) but I do not believe there is anything to back up the claim that “most” lots (Impark, west park, indigo, etc etc etc) are illegally setup

[know1edge]

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[Buster]

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if the argument isnt against the legality or morality, then what is it? the difference between murder and peeing in the bushes is one is a criminal law thats universal in every culture.

Look man. I'll make an exception just this once, and you can have an autographed photo.

But if you are caught searching through my black bin, we are going to have issues.

[beyond_ban]

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Look man. I'll make an exception just this once, and you can have an autographed photo.

But if you are caught searching through my black bin, we are going to have issues.

What about your green bin? Been craving banana peel and i feel like there are a few in yours

[suntan]

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I get the info from the parking company we've hired and questioned as well as friends who have hired parking companies for their commercial properties. Just to clarify my first few comments.. a company can place a sign on a property demanding payment. That doesn't mean someones now has to pay. That car can certainly be towed but just because there's a sign doesn't mean that a person is legally obligated to pay that parking provider. In the case of one of my friends properties he setup his paid parking services. All he did was hire a parking company. They brought in a terminal, placed all the signs hes legally obligated to and he started collecting cash. He never got permits from the city. He was ignoring all sorts of city bylaws by setting up a paid parking service but ultimately unless someone complained it wouldn't matter. This type of setup in all sense is illegal as its not properly permitted. He's in Edmonton and its well known that many of the properties there are not properly permitted for that type of use. People continue to setup paid parking options knowing worst case scenario for them is they shut it down if the city clamps down on them.

I've had to dive into legalities for parking services for condo properties as well as helping out different friends commercial properties.

I could dive into stats on how many fines get collected on properties, how much revenue is generated and what percentage of people pay after receiving notices in mails. Its a an interesting industry that IMO is full of shady practices with companies operating in a grey area for many areas. One thing that's been discussed in length with these companies are the legalities in trying to get people to pay their fines.... weather its with boots, the threat of a tow or just demanding someone pay. Its a very very slippery slope that has resulted with serious consequences for some.

I think you're full of shit.

[[GaGe]]

My understanding is that selling parking as a service is illegal, but these private parking companies get around that by "collecting an administrative fee" for their property/access management services.

Most of these companies have similar terms and conditions, and wording specifically around administrative/management fees: https://ca.parkindigo.com/en/terms-and-conditions

So yes, they're legally operating but can't legally force you to pay or collect.

Where I'm uncertain is - if you used a fake/expired pass (like the OP) to park on their lot, is that considered stealing a service if they're not technically selling a service?

I'm guessing that all they can do is tow you and give you a trespassing ticket, and the threat of calling police was a bluff.

[bjstare]

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That takes the grand prize for World's Creepiest False Equivalence.

[dandia89]

I've gotten quite a few tickets from impark (incorrectly) and I've called them and e-mailed a proof of payment and each time they removed it, at I least I think they did. It was annoying how often I had to do it, but it usually took 10-15 minutes on the phone.

[cgyITguy]

I have spent the better part of a decade avoiding paying for parking, so I feel somewhat obligated to comment. Full disclosure, I never pay for parking in an Impark lot, never will. You don't have to either. I have made the conscious decision to proceed this way. You may question the entitlement or morality of such a decision and that is fair. However, it is what it is. The way I see it the government steals from me left and right, I need to get something back somewhere in life and that place is free parking at the detriment of Impark. I have probably 50+ Impark tickets which I will never pay, although I get very few these days as I know their patrol times at various lots. I have been towed one time, although never had the experience of the OP. I do find other lots Vinci/Westpark etc will come after you a little harder with their fake collections attempts. (You don't have to pay these either but they are annoying).

End of the day after doing this for 10+ years I have saved 10s of thousands of dollars in parking. If you want to equate this to stealing, then so be it. My suggestion would be to wipe those little blue pieces of meaningless paper off your windshield and go about your day

Cheers

[ZenOps]

Forcible confinement is not an issue here. They are only preventing you from driving away, not walking away.

[gwill]

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Forcible confinement is not an issue here. They are only preventing you from driving away, not walking away.

wrong. They forced him to pay before leaving. The supreme court of Canada has ruled on this and has explicitly stated thats illegal.

You can't hold a vehicle ransom as per the courts.

The tickets arent worth the paper their printed on. People really really struggle with this. Ultimately property owners have few recourse to them when it comes to addressing parking violations.

[r3ccOs]

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wrong. They forced him to pay before leaving. The supreme court of Canada has ruled on this and has explicitly stated thats illegal.

You can't hold a vehicle ransom as per the courts.

The tickets arent worth the paper their printed on. People really really struggle with this. Ultimately property owners have few recourse to them when it comes to addressing parking violations.

I am a freeman of the land

[SneakyNeek]

now i dont want to call anyone out but i just thought this was interesting, OP stated something like he has 4 tickets but i noticed in another thready about Impark a post he made.
This is probably why they are following you around

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I have 392 impark/indigo tickets. Don't pay it lol

[CompletelyNumb]

Clearly he meant 4 that week. :p

[spikerS]

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wrong. They forced him to pay before leaving. The supreme court of Canada has ruled on this and has explicitly stated thats illegal.

You can't hold a vehicle ransom as per the courts.

The tickets arent worth the paper their printed on. People really really struggle with this. Ultimately property owners have few recourse to them when it comes to addressing parking violations.

Just a thought, but they COULD refuse you entry onto their property to retrieve your car, and arrange to have CPA come and tow it off. OR, you could pay for the right to access the land (the amount of your parking) and then legally tresspass onto their land to get your vehicle. Then the transaction is no longer about parking, but the right of access, like at your local swimming pool. This way, they are not holding your vehicle hostage, but rather, just refusing to allow you to tresspass onto their land.

[gwill]

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Just a thought, but they COULD refuse you entry onto their property to retrieve your car, and arrange to have CPA come and tow it off. OR, you could pay for the right to access the land (the amount of your parking) and then legally tresspass onto their land to get your vehicle. Then the transaction is no longer about parking, but the right of access, like at your local swimming pool. This way, they are not holding your vehicle hostage, but rather, just refusing to allow you to tresspass onto their land.

You struggle with the fact you can't hold a vehicle ransom. It's against the law. In your scenarios they are still holding it hostage.

If you would say you want property owners to have better rights then I would agree with you. It seems thats what you want. We should allow booting of vehicles. Ticketing and towing should be easier.....

It sucks to be a property owner as those who abuse parking have more rights then the property owners.... the cities could change this but it's not an issue they care about.

[spikerS]

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You struggle with the fact you can't hold a vehicle ransom. It's against the law.

But that's just it, they are not holding it ransom, they are having the CPA come and remove it, from whom the owner may retrieve it. The vehicle itself is not being held hostage, it is free to leave under tow for "safety reasons", they are just refusing to allow the owner to tresspass on their property, which i would assume is well withing their legal right to do (it is private property after all...). Regardless, it is just a hypothetical. I am not advocating for or against anything here.

[gwill]

the police arrested the employees of the one parking company who did something similar and have sent cease and desist letters threatening arrest to other parking companies who tried to do as they please.

[lasimmon]

Just seeing a blue civic being towed from the impark lot at 4th and 5th. Can’t say I’ve seen impark tow someone before.

[dubhead]

https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/201...t-disdain.html

“There are potentially two criminal offences happening with this business practice even though it’s taking place on private property,” said Det. John McConnell in a news release from April 2016. “There’s the act of mischief to another person’s vehicle by rendering it inoperable. A second criminal charge of extortion may be appropriate when the vehicle owner is approached in the lot and forced to pay a fee before the device is removed.”

So Edmonton police are against booting I wonder if they could stretch the mischief and extortion to being blocked in and shook down for money.