Moncton man upset after funeral car booted in private parking lot
Gail Harding | CBC News | Posted: March 5, 2017 10:02 PM | Last Updated: March 5, 2017
Parking enforcement company says refund won't be issued and no exceptions are made
A Moncton man says he'd like to be reimbursed the money he paid to get a parking boot off his car after it was parked in a private lot while his family attended a relative's funeral on Friday.
Jeff Burns's wife drove the car, which had a sign that said funeral, in the funeral procession to St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church on Botsford Street in Moncton. He said there was designated parking right in front of the church for family.
"But there was a lot of elderly people attending the service, so she pulled in across the street in the parking lot right in front of the church," he said.
Burns said his wife didn't realize or forgot it was a private parking lot.
Facebook post shared almost 900 times
After finding the car booted once they got out of the funeral, his daughter took a picture that he later posted to Facebook, which has been shared close to 900 times.
Burns called the telephone number that was left in the door handle and someone was at the scene in under a minute.
Burns said the man attempted to lecture him, but he cut him off.
"I told him, 'Let's just get this done.' So I had to pay because I just wanted to get my family home at that point," said Burns.
Burns said the company's actions didn't show any class or compassion.
No exceptions, says parking company
Greg Kennedy, a manager with Parking Solutions, was the person who booted the car. He said the lot is clearly marked with 15 signs as a private parking lot, and is one his company patrols frequently.
Kennedy confirmed he called his office to find out if the funeral home had authorization to park there and was told they didn't, so it was then booted.
He said no special consideration can be made to allow extra vehicles to park there.
"That lot is completely full with paying tenants and that's why we monitor the lot," he said.
The manager stressed people need to pay attention to the signage on parking lots in the city to make sure they are permitted to park there.
"Just because there's a funeral card on the car, that doesn't give them the right to take somebody else's space of people who actually pay to park there," said Kennedy.
He said there won't be any reimbursement.