A Thorold man has lost his car, after it got towed away from his front door without warning from the city's by-law department.
“As a result of this tow, my life has completely been thrown out of whack,” Brandon Mckenny-Somerville told Thorold City Council on Tuesday evening. “I don’t have a vehicle anymore so I’m basically stuck in Thorold. Any job opportunities I would have had prior to this tow are out of the window.”
Mckenny-Somerville moved into a shared house on Natalie Court back in August 2024. Just like the roommate before him, he started parking his car along a narrow strip of grass that runs between his driveway and the neighbour’s driveway.
On September 18, while Mckenny-Somerville was out and about in St. Catharines, he received a text message from his roommate that a by-law officer was circling his vehicle.
“I told them to give him my number,” he recalled. “If by-law has got concerns, they can just call me. Ten minutes later, my roommate messaged me that they were towing my car.”
It was Mckenny-Somerville’s neighbours who called in to complain that the car was blocking their driveway.
“I had no idea there was an issue,” said Mckenny-Somerville. “The by-law or neighbours never had come and spoken to me."
Because Mckenny-Somerville is unemployed and waiting for his EI to kick in, he did not have the money to get his car back from the towing company.
“The moment they tow your car, it’s 350 dollars,” he said. “You don’t get to negotiate that, you don’t get to fight that. Plus, It’s 75 dollars a day for storage. While you’re fighting this, they’re adding more fees on top.”
Due to his lack of funds, Mckenny-Somerville was forced to sign ownership of his car over to the towing company. Because every day the car is left on the lot — including days when the towing company is closed — would be added to Mckenny-Somerville's final bill.
Now, he is left without a car during a crucial time when he is looking for employment.
Without a solution in sight, Mckenny-Somerville requested a public forum with city council that took place on Tuesday evening. It was there that Director of Development Services Jason Simpson explained his side of the story.
“We attempted to speak with people in the neighbouring area to try to identify who the owner of the vehicle was but that was unsuccessful and as a result and as standard practice, because it was blocking the driveway, we had the vehicle towed,” Simpson told council members.
“Once the vehicle is on the truck, the city no longer has any jurisdiction and it becomes the responsibility of the tow company who are the ones that set the fees and operate under their own legislation.”
The official reason for the tow is that the car was creating an unsafe situation by partly blocking the neighbour’s driveway.
“We don’t want anybody to be stuck in their driveway during an emergency and we get those vehicles towed as soon as possible,” Simpson said.
But council members believe there could have been better ways to get the point across.
“I think education is a better way than just going out there and towing vehicles,” said Councillor Henry D’Angela. “I think we need to do a better job — especially on these narrow-type streets.”
Councillor Mike De Divitiis voiced his agreement and said that he has owned a property on Natalie Court for many years.
“The parking has always been a mess,” he said. “You probably could tow 50 cars in that spot on any given night.”
Other council members asked if it was possible to give vehicle owners 24 hours before towing their cars.
“The only time we issue a warning is if there’s a new provision in the by-law that comes into effect that people wouldn’t know about,” said Simpson. “If it’s blocking a driveway: no warning, we just tow.”
But that still didn’t sit right with council members.
“I completely understand when a driveway is being completely blocked but in this case I’m a little weary to believe that the neighbour couldn’t get in or out,” said Councillor Tim O’Hare. “We might have avoided this whole issue if we had a process similar to that in place.”
In the end, Councillor Carmen DeRose asked that the city try to get Mckenny-Somerville’s car back — if it hasn’t been scrapped by now.
“I would think that the towing company gets enough business of our contract with them that they should be willing to negotiate something,” he said. “This guy should get his car back. I’m not blaming anybody but what transpired, I don’t agree with it. I wouldn’t want to be treated like that.”
And with that, council directed staff to see if the city can get the car back.
Mckenny-Somerville tells ThoroldToday that he did not expect this outcome.
“I didn't think it was gonna go anywhere, but I was glad it kind of did,” he says. “My hope is that the tow place that they took it to hasn't scrapped it at this point.”
Even though a happy ending might be in the future, Mckenny-Somerville is still upset that his car was towed in the first place.
“I didn't even know there was an issue with my car until by-law showed up,” he says. “My roommates were trying to give [the officer] my phone number to get in touch with me, but he just kind of sat in his truck, unfortunately. All of a sudden, my car was gone.”
