(Continuation of Students find commuter parking lot loophole By NICOLE JOBES)
By NICOLE JOBES
“We have received complaints about students parking in the carpool, but we can’t do much about it,” said Eichholz.
Graduating from the marketing program at Conestoga College last year, Graham List, 24, now uses the lot every day to meet his co-workers and carpool to work in Mississauga.
“I know what it’s like to eat mac n’ cheese every day for dinner, I was there,” List said. “I parked here when I was a student too, but it was never this bad. Some days I can’t even find a spot when I get here at 8 a.m.”
While students seem to be taking over the lot one spot at a time, nothing is being done, and it is unclear whether or not anything will be.
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation owns the lot and does have a few rules surrounding its us. A traffic communications operator named Barb, who wouldn’t give her last name, said cars were to only park in the designated spots. No car is allowed to block anyone in, and if someone does, then they should call the Ontario Provincial Police and have that car towed.
However, the OPP said that ticketing and enforcing those rules is not their jurisdiction, referring it to the Waterloo Regional Police Service.
As it turns out, the WRDPS is also not in charge of enforcing these rules as set out by the MTO, according to Inspector Greg Lamport.
“Only the owner of the lot can make a complaint that we can act upon,” he said. “In this case we would have to have the MTO or a government official call the police.”
Lamport summed up the situation with a simple analogy: “ … Somebody parks in your driveway when you’re on vacation, but it bothers your neighbour who wanted to use your space while you were away to park their car. So the neighbour calls the cops, but the cops can’t do anything unless it’s the owner of the driveway complaining.”
So, who is in charge of enforcing the carpool lot rules? It seems like no one is.
As far as Lamport is concerned, students have found a “loophole” in the system.
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