City Towing Snowed-in Cars

It's been time consuming and expensive for the city. So far workers have seen fifteen cars across town that were completely stuck in the snow. Most were blocking plows; Some even blocking traffic. Many of those vehicles had to be towed to a city lot. It's a process that takes about 20 minutes per car, and costs $40 each time. But it has to be done to clear the streets. Workers say there could still be days of work ahead. "We're actually still combing the city right now to find other cars that are actually in ditches," says Champaign parking enforcement officer Anthony Lewis. "Whenever someone calls us out and they see a street blocked off or something like that then we'll come out and take care of it." In this city when cars are buried under feet of snow and blocking traffic, workers call Lewis. He's seen everything from vehicles completely blocking intersections to: "a car that was kind of covered eight-foot-high in the Bolder Ridge area." Lewis' job is to get one of several towing companies to come dig cars like those out and tow them to First Street, just north of the police department. That's where at least a dozen car owners will find their wheels tonight. "The patrons can go to the police department give the right identification to pick up their car," Lewis says. There is some good news for motorists who got stuck in the snow though. The city is picking up the tab. "No fee at all, free of charge," Lewis explains. "No tickets... It's a great deal." And all that work is one reason tow truck drivers are in high-demand. The city contracts with several companies to get their job done. But tow-truck drivers like Steve Seymour from Tatman's have to deal with other calls on top of that. Seymour says there's only one word to describe the day after a storm. "Busy busy busy," Seymour says. "We're five, six hours behind I guess with all the calls. Calls just keep stacking up, more people getting stuck all that sort of stuff, so we just got to keep rolling." And they have. Tatman's and Reynold's Towing alone have dug out more than 400 vehicles.. just today. There's even a waiting list for some. Workers say they've towed everything from semi-trucks in ditches to MTD buses.