PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Properly-marked cars of disabled drivers are being towed from a Walmart on Frederick Boulevard in Portsmouth because they have not been perfectly aligned in the parking space.
Those drivers, including Alison Copeland, have been taking to social media, and have reached out to WAVY seeking answers as to why they were wrongly towed by Always Swift Towing.
10 On Your Side has received other complaints, also.
Copeland has a disabled parking placard in her car, and had been parked with one tire over the line, but the rest of the car in the space.
“This is my vehicle,” Copeland said. “This is the right side back tire across the line. The other car prevented me from parking. … That is wrong. I didn’t have a choice. I pulled in there, and there was another car over there parked crooked, and I didn’t have a choice.”
10 On Your Side wanted to get answers, so we went to Always Swift Towing, and we met a security guard coming out, and then he quickly retreated behind the locked door.
The security guard would not open the door, but shortly after, we got a call from an Always Swift Towing supervisor who referred to himself as Mr. Blue.
“You cannot leave abandoned cars there,” he said.
“The car was not abandoned,” 10 On Your Side told him in reply.
“She went in to shop at Walmart,” he said. “If you double park and your car is not parked correctly in the double lines, that is what Walmart wants. You have to park a certain way.”
Copeland holds Walmart responsible, ultimately, for hiring Always Swift Towing,
“Because me, as a shopper of Walmart, no longer wants to go to Walmart because I don’t know if I am going to come out and my car is going to be gone,” Copeland said. “It is like I’ m fearful.”
Walmart corporate communications responded by saying ““We’re aware of the situation and are in the process of ending our agreement with the vendor.”
Shila Graham-Sykes, who served for 18 years in the Navy and is now a disabled veteran, had her car towed just minutes after she got out of her car to go into Walmart.
Another driver who had parked next to Graham-Sykes informed her of what happened.
“She rolls down her window, and she says, ‘You just got out of the Range Rover?’ And we said, ‘Yes,’ and then she said, ‘As soon as you walked in, they towed your car.”
Blue, after speaking with 10 On Your Side, said he was considering returning money to those who were truly, wrongly towed, though how much, or to how many, is not known. He said that before Walmart indicated it would end its relationship with Always Swift Towing.
“We will set up a business meeting, and we will show you the pictures that we have,” Blue said.
That could well determine who should be towed and who shouldn’t, and 10 on Your Side will keep you posted on any changes in making what tow victims consider a wrong into a right.
