Sitting on the shoulder of Gateway Blvd, just after the Ellerslie overpass, encased in snow, with a safety cone on its roof, is a silver Volkswagen Golf.
The small car has been marking the entrance to Edmonton for at least eight days and it’s garnering a lot of attention.
The City of Edmonton said staff put an abandoned car notice on the vehicle Jan. 23, but some reports said it has been parked there since at least Jan. 22.
The cone was put on top sometime between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Parking enforcement doesn’t know who put it there.
“What we normally do is issue a 72-hour notice,” said Erin Blaine with the City of Edmonton’s Parking Enforcement Services. “When the followup came, that was our snowstorm where it was completely covered in snow.
“In those cases, you can’t just call a tow truck because the tow truck can’t get it out either.”
Blaine told Global News Parking Enforcement was working with the city Roadways department to clear the snow around the car so a tow truck could access it.
“We will be doing that shortly,” she said.
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Blaine said the department has only had one complaint about the abandoned vehicle, despite the fact thousands of vehicles drive by it every day.
“We try to address all of (the abandoned vehicles) before a big snowfall,” Blaine said. “The only way we know they are abandoned is complaints from citizens.”
The department tries to reach owners of vehicles but if the owners are not located, the vehicles are auctioned off. Blaine said they could see anywhere between 70 to 75 abandoned vehicles every month.
“We do see a lot in the winter. We try to prepare for the snowfall so things like this don’t happen,” she said.
A note was left on the Golf offering to buy the vehicle. Global News called the number and the man who answered said he wanted it for parts.