PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A towing company at the center of a dispute with customers of a Portsmouth Walmart said they were only doing the bidding of the store in towing illegally parked cars, even though they had disabled placards or plates on them.

Walmart customers say the towing company, Always Swift Towing, was wrong to tow their cars. However, company officials who reached out to 10 On Your Side said those cars were double-parked, and added that the store didn’t want anything to do with handling the parking situation there.

Portsmouth resident Alison Copeland, who is disabled and has a placard on her car stating as such, said she didn’t have a choice but to double-park.

“I didn’t have a choice,” she said. “I pulled in there, and there was another car over there parked crooked and I didn’t have a choice.”

Copeland herself parked at a slant, in which her right-rear tire was over the striped line of the parking space.

She was towed “because she double-parked it,” said Kim, a supervisor at Always Swift Towing who otherwise didn’t want to be identified. However, Copeland said it was mean to tow the car of someone who is known disabled, calling it a petty response.

Copeland’s point was she was parked at a slant, but it did not prevent someone from squeezing into the parking space next to her. She also said she had to park that way because someone already parked in the next space was at a slant too.

“That’s not true,” Kim said. “She was double-parked, and we don’t allow that.”

Copeland insisted another car could have squeezed in, and said she will never return to the Walmart again.

In a statement emailed to 10 On Your Side, Walmart said “we’re aware of the situation and are in the process of ending our agreement with the vendor.”

Has Walmart said anything to Always Swift Towing about ending its contract with the store?

“Absolutely nothing,” Kim said.

Another supervisor, Mr. Blue, who also did not want to use his full name, said “they would have to go through the proper steps to cancel that. … Walmart does not want to deal with the parking thing, and that is why they hired us. That’s our field.”

After Copeland said she doesn’t want to shop at Walmart on Frederick Boulevard anymore, Always Swift Towing employees said it was “fine” with them. They insist they are doing exactly what Walmart hired them to do.

“That’s fine, because if they park here in your parking lot,” Kim said, “you still want them to obey your rules, right?”