Attention: Simon Theroux

I’m writing regarding a recent incident involving the City of Montreal. On January 3rd, after filling up my car, I returned to my residence around 10:30 p.m. and inadvertently parked near an orange “No Parking” sign. It was quite hard to see this sign as it was covered in blowing snow. I carried one bag of groceries to my apartment and when I came back for the second bag, I discovered that my unlocked vehicle was gone.

I checked your website and it said that cars were being towed to a lot at the end of Henri-Bourassa Street to make way for snow removal trucks. The next day, I took a $3 bus ride to the stated address, but my car was not there. I called the City and Customer Service Representative Viviane Belanger was able to finally solve the mystery. It turned out that it had been necessary to establish a secondary lot in order to accommodate all of the cars that needed to be towed. Unfortunately the website had not been updated to include the second address. Thus, visitors to the website only saw information related to the primary lot.

Once I obtained the address of the secondary lot, I set off to find my car. It was snowing again and -32°C. I waited for over half an hour for another bus, paid the driver another $3, and headed two kilometres in the opposite direction. Twenty minutes later, I found my car at the other address, its wheels stuck in snow, its exterior covered with grime, and its windshield displaying a $115 towing bill. To make matters worse, someone managed to steal $80 worth of my gasoline, presumably by siphoning it out of the fuel tank.

The fine is due tomorrow. I’ve tried repeatedly to pay it online but always receive a message saying the information hasn’t been entered into your system. I don’t dispute the charges, but I just want to confirm that I should pay the invoice in spite of the mistakes made by the City.

Sincerely,

Fatima Djaout