Customers Complain They Were Unfairly Towed At UTEP Area Restaurant

Customers at a restaurant near UTEP said their cars were getting towed even though they were legally parked in the business’s lot Saturday night.

Jim Roy told ABC-7 he was eating dinner at Chicago’s restaurant on Mesa street when he noticed a commotion out in the parking lot.

“There was actually a couple that was eating inside and their car got towed,” he said. According to Roy, three or four other customers’ cars were also towed in the area about the same time.

There are signs in that parking lot warning drivers their cars will be taken by El Paso Towing, a private company, unless they are customers at one of the lot’s buildings.

Roy said a man who works with El Paso Towing was pointing out cars for the truck to take away even though those cars belonged to customers inside the restaurant.

He said a group of concerned customers approached the restaurant’s owner to see if she could stop the towing. The business owner, who did not want to be identified, told ABC-7 her hands were tied in the situation. She acknowledged her customers were getting towed unfairly but did not have the authority to stop it from happening.

El Paso Towing deals directly with Mimco, the company that owns the building where Chicago’s restaurant is located. The restaurant owner said she tried contacting Mimco to stop her customers’ cars from being towed but was unable to reach them. ABC-7 also placed a call to Mimco, but got an answering service since their office was closed Saturday night.

A supervisor for El Paso Towing denied the company had done anything wrong. Robert Roa said the company employs “spotters” who tell tow truck drivers which cars to take.

He said all the cars towed at the Chicago’s lot Saturday night were taken because the drivers were seen walking away from the building.

“As long as we see them going across the street then automatically we can pick them up,” he said.

When asked about reports that customers eating inside were being towed, Roa said, “We asked for a receipt and they couldn’t provide one.”

But Roy said the El Paso Towing spotters were wrong in this case, and could affect business in the area.

“It’s not good for the merchants here, it’s not good for us, it’s not good for UTEP. It’s not good for anybody,” Roy said.