You walk out of a store or restaurant and there it is -- a bright yellow boot on your car wheel.
It’s given Atlanta a bad reputation for decades – but the city was supposed to clamp down on private booting companies with a tough set of rules.
Atlanta drivers are getting the boot. Cars are being held hostage all over the city, but it’s not the city that's immobilizing parked cars – these are for-profit companies, enforcing the rules on private lots.
The signs are everywhere at the Midtown Place Shopping Center – step one foot off the lot and you’ll get booted. And the signs are everywhere that many drivers ignore those warnings.
11Alive watched as a single booter immobilized five cars at a time at Midtown Place. He scanned the lot from an elevated perch looking for one thing: people crossing the street to Ponce City Market.
Then he sets his trap and waits for the shoppers to discover his sticker and boot on their cars.
Tony Williams shopped at Midtown Place and had the bags and receipts to prove it. His $75 mistake was walking instead of driving across the street to grab a bite to eat.
“No matter how much money we spend here, or where we shop here, it’s like being in prison. You’re imprisoned once you park here,” Williams said.
Jimi Lanham is an Atlanta delivery driver. He tried to get his money back after getting booted for parking twice in the same space on 7th Street, but for less than the 15-minute limit.
“I showed them screenshots of my Google Maps timeline as well as pictures of the receipt, and even after that proof, they were saying that ‘the video shows that you were there for 35 minutes,’ and I’m telling them that is impossible,” Lanham said.
