DENVER — An investigator for Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) found Wyatt’s Towing committed no violations when the company towed democratic state Senator Julie Gonzales’ car from a mixed-use parking garage in late August, blaming the “unfortunate towing incident” on bad communication on the part of the lot’s manager.
Gonzales complained to the PUC the morning after retrieving her car from the Wyatt’s lot, claiming misleading signs that said a permit was required for overnight parking led to the tow.
In a lengthy thread on X, formerly Twitter, Gonzales detailed the situation – accusing Wyatt’s of a bad tow and committing the ‘sin of omission’ by not offering her a payment plan option to retrieve her vehicle as required by the Towing Bill of Rights she helped pass in the previous year’s legislative session.
After Gonzales’ thread went viral, Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser, also a democrat, acknowledged for the first time publicly that his office is investigating Wyatt’s Towing. The company has been the subject of 950 complaints to the PUC in the last year, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Regulatory Affairs.
According to a 111-page report on the PUC’s investigation into Gonzales’ tow, there was a miscommunication between the owner of the commercial side of the building and the manager of the adjoining apartment complex over enforcement times for a new towing contract with Wyatt’s. The company was hired, the report said, to help patrol the lot after stolen cars had been left there previously.
The report said a manager of the apartment complex approved a new sign for the garage, informing parkers of a new overnight guest permitting system run by ParkM, a parking lot enforcement company owned by the same investing group that owns Wyatt’s Towing. The sign simply said, “Overnight Guest Parking by Permit Only,” without detailing times of enforcement. According to the report, the owner of the commercial properties wanted enforcement between 2am and 10am – but the apartment manager communicated to Wyatt’s that patrol times would be between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. Gonzales’ vehicle was towed at 8:07 p.m.
Gonzales was refunded the cost of the tow the day after, after Eugene Lucero, the owner of the commercial property called and complained to Wyatt’s towing. An employee of Wyatt’s told the PUC investigator that Lucero called her at 5 a.m. the day after the tow and “used profane language during the call and demanded the Senator be refunded.” According to the report, Wyatt’s Towing cancelled its contract with the property because of the treatment by Lucero.
“The lack of communication between the property managers and not ordering the proper signage does not fall under any of the violations that can be enforced under the current statutes and rules regulating transportation,” the PUC’s investigator wrote.
In her thread, Gonzales said Wyatt’s never informed her or the women in front of her in line that night at the tow yard, of the ability to pay the fee total in installments. The PUC investigator noted that while the installment plan is part of the law Gonzales wrote, the law does not state that a towing operator shall inform of that option.
“My conversation with the PUC investigator last week, along with the dozens of Coloradans who have reached out to me to share their own towing stories, highlight to me that we still need to strengthen the Towing Bill of Rights in the 2024 legislative session to protect consumers in Colorado,” Gonzales said in a statement earlier this week when it was revealed the investigation found no fault by Wyatt’s.
Do you have a towing story? E-mail 9NEWS Reporter Steve Staeger at steve@9news.com.
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