GREENSBORO, N.C. — Addison Middleton has made the drive dozens of times. One of her best friends lives at the Fulton Place apartments in Greensboro, so Middleton is often visiting.
Every time she visits, Middleton parks in a dirt lot on the property which is apparently for guests or visitors. The lot often has upwards of 20 to 30 cars parked in it.
“This is where I park all the time,” Middleton said.
On a recent visit, Middleton parked in the lot again and was heading out with friends to get some food when she noticed her car had a boot on it. A parking enforcement company came by and clamped her car so she couldn’t drive.
“She (my friend) lives here and tells me this is where I should park,” Middleton said. “I’ve parked here many times without a problem.”
On this night, Middleton and about three other cars had a boot on them. Now, what's strange is about a dozen other cars were also parked in the lot and did not have a boot. The lot is a rather large area used daily for guests to park in.
All the cars park facing the complex with plenty of space left for people to drive behind them. On the night Middleton was booted, another car was parked next to hers wasn't.
“It makes no sense,” Middleton said.
After noticing the boot, Middleton turned to her friend for help. They decided to wait until the next day to contact the apartment complex management.
“It was a pain to have to get a ride home that night and spend the next morning dealing with this,” Middleton said.
Most apartment complexes and parking lots are on private property which can be problematic. While you can call police, property owners may or may not respond. Middleton did what you should do in a situation like this which is to take several pictures of the car and the space where it is parked.
Middleton reached out to the complex the following morning and asked what it could do. The complex agreed to contact the parking enforcement company about removing the boot. It took about three to four hours, but the parking enforcement company did remove the boot without paying anything.
Middleton was never given a reason as to why she was booted, and the complex did not provide any answers. Frustrated that her car and a few others were booted, Middleton reached out to us for answers.
We reached out to the apartment complex and LMS Parking Enforcement to try and figure out what took place. The parking enforcement company initially told us the car was illegally parked but when we asked more questions, they declined to answer them.
A manager at the complex told us he would reach out to the parking enforcement company to try and understand why some of the cars were booted. When we reached out a week later, we were told they did not hear back from the parking enforcement agency.
We later received an email statement from the corporate office. The statement was brief and simply stated; Thank you for your request regarding Fulton Place, we respectfully decline to comment.
We had hoped to learn if the complex had reached out to LMS about booting cars and why Middleton’s car was booted.
If something like this happens to you, take plenty of pictures. Unfortunately, it is a civil matter so you may end up having to go to court if the agency dos does not remove the boot.
If you go to court, you could also ask for damages that exceed the amount you paid to have the boot removed.