Feb 6, 2013
City paints handicap spot around legally parked car, tows it for parking illegally
A Tel-Aviv woman parked her car legally in a spot that the city apparently intended to turn into a handicap spot. City workers painted the lines and wheelchair symbol around the woman’s car. Then, later, the city towed her for parking there without a handicap permit…
After being ignored and accused of lying when she tried explain, the woman tracked down this security camera footage in order to defend herself against over $350 in fines. After the video went viral, she got her car back and her fines thrown out and the mayor of Tel Aviv apologized on her Facebook page. She’s still mad, though.
(via Hypervocal, Times of Israel)
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Looks like another setup for amusement. Happens to be a camera pointed right at the car??
This actually happened. It was widely reported in the local press. Here’s an article in Hebrew on the incident:
http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/education/1.1922570
And in English:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/tel-aviv-students-handicapped-space-painted-car-towed-article-1.1257368
The camera was in an adjacent office building. Tel Aviv is a dense city, where this is not surprising at all. We often make fun of wishy-washy American cities where this is less likely to happen because the city is too sparse. Do you happen to live in such a city, Paula?
Also, for those asking about the tow-truck: this is the standard kind of tow-truck that the city uses to tow violating cars. The city has too many narrow streets for anything else to work.
Also, two thumbs up for Hick’s comment below. Unsurprisingly, the Israeli press and blogs did not make this connection.
I’m amazed at how many people doubt the sincerity of videos, especially dashcam videos (“what, they just happened to have their video camera going?”) I can’t vouch for this video in particular but I think the prevalence of insurance dash cams and city wide security cameras is greater than people think.
They’re good at that the Israelis – re-designating a space and then criminalizing the occupants.
I had a friend who had the same thing happen to him in Minneapolis several years ago. I remember that he got the ticket dismissed in court after he tracked down a copy of the city work order showing that the handicapped sign was installed the day of the towing and that he had a protracted fight regarding the towing/impound fee. I don’t remember if he finally got the city to refund that or not.
Anyone else think that tow truck was pretty awesome?
Yep!