It’s been there for weeks, collecting snow, ice and its fair share of dirty looks. Now, one Calgary car owner is speaking out about his seemingly abandoned car on the side of a northeast street.
During the latest snow route parking ban, the Calgary Parking Authority towed 15 abandoned vehicles parked along the routes.
However, an old Cadillac parked at 611 19 St. N.E. wasn’t one of them.
The car has been snowed in for months, according to owner Brad Ferguson.
Ferguson told Global News the car was plowed-in during the first snow, when there were no parking restrictions. He said because he was out of town, he was unable to dig it out. It’s been stuck ever since.
On Monday, Global News spoke to Ferguson’s neighbour, Suzy Cikor, who said she’d complained to the parking authority about the car, saying it was impeding traffic and snow-clearing.
That spurred Furgeson to tell his side of the story, explaining that he’s been communicating with the city and parking authority through the winter.
“With each snowfall that’s happened, it’s just been getting worse and worse,” Ferguson said.
“Every day it’s packed and melts, people drive and splatter more and it freezes harder and harder. There’s not a lot you can do.”
Ferguson said the city told him it’s up to him to dig the car out and move it. He said he asked if he could engage a friend with a plow to help him, officials said yes, but that he’d be responsible for covering any potential damage to the road or curb.
That wasn’t worth the risk for Furgeson.
He said he’d like people to understand that not all snow-covered cars are left on the streets out of neglect.
“Listen to both sides, don’t automatically cast judgment on everybody that we’re all jerks and don’t care about anybody,” he said.
Ferguson said he’s “just as frustrated as everybody else” that his car is stuck and is impatiently waiting for warmer weather to melt the snow encasing it.
The Calgary Parking Authority said on Tuesday that it can’t speak about this specific car, but according to city bylaws, any car left on the street for more than 72 hours can be considered abandoned.
The parking authority doesn’t patrol for abandoned cars but said officers will attend vehicles if a complaint is made, either by phone, email or Twitter.
If a complaint does come in, the parking authority will put a tag on the car saying it has to be moved and then check back 72 hours later. The car would then be ticketed or towed if it’s still there.
The parking authority said that while there’s no regulation saying if a resident is out of town, they should have someone move their vehicle, it is recommended.
As of Monday, the city had fielded 586 complaints about abandoned cars in Calgary.
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