Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Some people who lined up because they couldn't afford turkey for had to pay to get their cars back.
While people stood in line at the Indian Walk-in Center at West Temple and 1300 South in Salt Lake this week, their cars parked just feet away in the 7-Eleven parking lot were being towed away.
Mireya and Richard Saxton say it was a cruel thing to do.
"There were two guys working as fast as they could to push the cars into the tow truck," Mireya said. Richard added, "There are folks out there that waited and waited, and they came back and their car was gone."
Mireya took a friend to get a free turkey and was even a 7-Eleven customer, but she had to pay $80 on the spot to get her car off the tow truck. Others paid $175 at the tow lot.
A spokesman for AMR Towing said only 4 to 5 cars were actually towed, and 4 to 5 more cars were released to their owners in the parking lot for a very reduced fee.
A 7-Eleven clerk tells KSL signs in the parking lot clearly warned people of the risk.
The AMR spokesman said, "Understand that they were still parked in a place they shouldn't have been parked in, and that's what the contract was, and that's all I know."
The store had problems with people parking there last year when they went to get free turkeys, and clerks immediately called the towing company when it started happening again this year.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
