Living in Vancouver comes with it’s share of surprises. You’ve just visited a nice store or coffee shop in a beautiful neighbourhood then walk up to where you thought you’ve parked your car and can’t see it. The first reaction you will get is “oh, I’ve must of parked somewhere else or I’ve must of walked past my car”
so.,
after a few walks up and down the block
you remember the spot where you’ve parked. Next thing that runs through your mind is even worse.. you think “someone’s stole my car” oh crap.. why did I leave my laptop in the truck? Now what am I going to do with the mirage of other things I’ve left in the trunk.
So you make the dreaded call to the police to report your car stolen. The police ask you to contact the City of Vancouver and give you their number. So here you are in the middle of the sidewalk waiting for your call to go through. Luckily, you get a live person who tells you to contact Busters. Busters? who’s Busters? Busters is the towing company contracted to pick up cars for the City of Vancouver. Busters.. you think in disbelief for a moment then you call them. Sure enough they ask for your plate number and confirm your car is at their compound.
At this time you have mixed emotions. The same mixed emotions you’d have if you watched your mother in-law drive over a cliff in your brand new convertable. So you say out loud… Busters?!?! … B@#%RS!!! Immediately you find a way (with lightning speed) to get to the impound, pay the towing fee and then pay the parking ticket that was issued mere seconds before your car was towed. What?!?! Another fee?!?! Talk about putting salt on the wound. Oh well, at least I still have my laptop and all the other important stuff (you think to yourself and then skip that dinner for two at the Keg).
Vancouver has a lot of signs.. and I mean a lot. Some of them can be quite confusing if you don’t look twice.
One particular parking by-law you can miss is where you’re parked on the side of a road where there is no post indicating how far from the curb you can park.
You can't park closer than least six meters from where the grass on the sidewalk meets. There are a number of these types of intersections and you don’t want to discover them the hard way. Below is what I call the tow away hot zones. Notice how the distance from this post is a lot closer to the intersection than six meters? Keep an eye out for these and always remember, the sign does not have to be there to indicate a tow away zone.
Living in Vancouver is very rewarding and over time, you get to know where to park.. or where not to park.
Comments (1)Subscribe to CommentsComment