LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) A Carencro woman is outright angry.
Amanda Broussard believes she was caught-up in a car towing round-up on Sunday while at an Easter Egg Hunt.
Broussard says she got a $248 towing fine.
She was at Moncus Park when, she says, someone directed her and others to park at the bank next door because the lot inside the park was full.
Shortly thereafter, she heard cars were being towed from the bank property next door.
“I questioned, ‘Are you sure about that?’ because on the Facebook page at Moncus Park they say to be careful about towing.”
Despite Broussard’s gut feeling, she went for it and her car was towed.
“I tried to hurry and get to may car as fast as I could but I am disabled,” she said. “I have a rod in my hip and it’s hard for me to walk the long distances but I got there as soon as I could. As soon as I got there my car was gone.”
She said a tow truck driver was riding around in the parking lot and she stopped him.
“He said there are signs with the phone number call it. I called it and it was $248 to get my car back,” Broussard explained.
The Executive Director of Moncus Park, J.P. MacFadyen says there’s parking inside the park but it gets full at times and the park has no control over the properties nearby.
“Outside the park grounds we can’t control where people park,” he said. “But be advised to recognize that the landlords of other shopping centers are towing cars.”
He said as Moncus Park grows in popularity, parking becomes a thing. He says the many of the parking lots outside of Moncus Park property have signs warning people not to park.
“Our staff yesterday afternoon was telling folks that if you do park over there, then there’s a good likelihood that you’ll get towed. We don’t want anybody to get towed,” MacFadyen said.
Meanwhile Broussard said she’s speaking up to keep what happened to her from happening to someone else.
Also, Broussard now has doubts the person who sent her and others to park off property was a park employee or volunteer, but maybe a scammer.
“I’m starting to wonder if they’re in kahoots with the towing company to direct cars so they can purposely tow them and make money.”
Broussard hopes that one day the park and nearby parking lot owners can come to an agreement for parking when businesses are closed.
MacFadyen said future plans include expanding the existing lot, which can currently accommodate 150 cars, to add another hundred spaces. Plus, the farmer’s market pavilion that will be coming on-line will bring another hundred parking spots.
He added that at times, not always, shuttle services are made available to bring people into the park for events — and that helps with the dilemma of limited parking.
