CALGARY -- Imagine waking up in the morning and finding your car gone - and all your neighbors' cars gone, too.

That's what happened recently to people living in one northeast Calgary community, when the Calgary Parking Authority and a small armada of tow trucks showed up after midnight in order to tow away an entire block's worth of vehicles, without so much as issuing a warning.

The parking putsch took place in the early hours of November 5, when residents of Cornerstone Blvd. in northeast Calgary woke to discover their vehicles gone, with no explanation whatsoever.

"It's so horrible," said resident Binti Gurung. "We thought somebody is stealing our car!"

Binti Gurung

Impound

It turned out it wasn't car thieves but tow trucks who transported everyone on the block's vehicle to the city's impound lot in southwest Calgary.

By the time the towing charge and impound fees were tacked on, everyone who had lost their vehicle faced a bill for over $250 apiece. Even worse for the residents, numerous families had more than one car parked on the street.

Bill

"That's a lot of money," said Gurung,

"Not only that," she added, "One day I couldn't go to work - so it's hard."

No signs

There are no signs on the street indicating the road is unsuitable for parking. Longtime residents say they've never received a warning not to park on it. The area's city councillor, George Chahal, said he's never heard complaints about people parking on the street.

"This is the first time I've heard of any issue on that roadway," Chahal said, adding that "I have asked this to be escalated and looked at why this happened to begin with."

Coun. George Chahal

A difficult year

It's just the latest bitter pill to swallow for a Calgary neighbourhood that has already endured a pandemic and a billion dollar hailstorm that ravaged many homes and automobiles this year.

"With everything going on in our community with a pandemic, with a hailstorm that northeast Calgary faced," Chahal said, "many of these homeowners only have one car, and it was a major challenge for them just to get to the impound lot in southeast Calgary from the far northeast."

Calgary impound lot

The tow job has left Cornerstone residents furious and demanding a little retribution - and maybe a few sweet words, too.

"Besides the apology and the refund that my entire community is owed," said Alysha Armanious Bulmer, "I think I need to have adequate signage up so that it is a clear indicator that we are allowed to park - if that needs to be labelled in some ways, (then) that needs to happen."

Alysha Armanious Bulmer

Parking Authority responds

The Calgary Parking Authority issued a statement Monday evening, stating that, "the decision to tow was made following numerous resident complaints," it said, "and to ensure parked vehicles were not impeding the flow of traffic.

"We will be covering the tow and impound storage costs," they added. "and will contact the residents affected directly."

"The Calgary Parking Authority will continue to work closely with the City of Calgary," it added, "to ensure our roads are safe for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians."

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So all's well that ends well, except for one nagging concern: why was there no signs indicating that parking wasn't or was allowed?

The Parking Authority said that's not their department. That's up to the City of Calgary's roads department.