Emily Williams watched helplessly in tears as her car was towed from the McDonald's parking lot on the corner of Yale Boulevard and Central Avenue Friday afternoon.
Williams, a UNM senior, said she didn't think she was doing anything wrong by parking on the restaurant's property while she was in class. She was, however, violating a McDonald's policy that has been strictly enforced since its inception in May.
Williams became one of more than 20 University students whose cars have been towed from the parking lot every week since the restaurant began cracking down on illegal parkers last semester.
A manager at the franchise said UNM students continue to ignore the rule, which states anyone parked in the restaurant's parking lot for more than an hour will be towed.
"We know it is a desperate measure, but when our parking lot is completely full of cars and there is only one customer in the restaurant, we have to put our foot down," said the manager, who did not want to give his name. "People from UNM will be able to save themselves a lot of heartache by abiding by this rule, because we aren't going to budge."
He said University students parking in McDonald's limited space has been a problem for years, but management had opted to allow it.
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"After a while they (students) began taking advantage of our kindness and started parking there all day," the manager said. "This is a business, and we're doing what's necessary to make sure this business runs smoothly."
He said McDonald's national chain is considering circulating a petition around UNM to force University officials to increase parking on campus to ease the restaurant's burden.
Jonathan Gonzales, towing manager for Discount Towing and Recovery, the local company contracted to tow cars from McDonald's, said the restaurant's management chalks the ground behind cars parked there every half hour.
He said after a car has been there for an hour, his company is contacted and a tow truck is dispatched. After an announcement inside the restaurant, the vehicle becomes free game.
Gonzales said the average cost to regain a towed car is just over $80.
"We are working with McDonald's to make the enforcement of this rule as trouble-free for students as possible," he said.
Still, many students, especially those who have felt the financial sting of having their car towed from the McDonald's, say they see the situation differently.
Williams said she thinks the restaurant is unjustified in the towing of students' cars and it will eventually feel its actions in its pocketbook.
"How do they know I wasn't going to eat there when I got back from class?" she said. "The restaurant sees us as just the people who park there, but they need to remember that we're their customers, too."
