Sign Mistake Leads To Mass Towing

By Jeffrey Smith, News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The parking numbers are in from the first weekend of the state fair and they aren't pretty. Tulsa Police have already towed 56 cars and they've handed out hundreds of tickets. Some neighbors say the cops aren't playing fair.

That's right, almost 60 cars have been impounded. That's a 180% increase from last year, but cops admit that some no parking signs should not have been put up and people are angry that they're having to pay for that mistake.

It's been a busy few days at the fair for Tulsa police, but what happened on this street two blocks from the Midway has neighbors crying foul.

"Thursday night, people park normally like they did for years, on this side of the street, and they got towed away, and it was the saddest thing I saw," said Susan Bell.

Those no parking signs are on that side of the street all year long. But for the first night of the Tulsa State Fair, those signs were also put up on the other side of the street. Those signs were taken down the very next day.

"We just basically sat outside and watched them ticket cars, and a tow truck would come and take one car after another," said Bell.

Others say the cops didn't distinguish between who belonged and who didn't.

"They were towing away people who live here, their personal cars, because people have more cars than driveway," said Jack Lunsford.

"A traffic engineer just accidentally put signs on both sides of the street, that's not actually what was meant to happen, and we corrected that," said TPD Sgt. Skipper Bain.

Sergeant Bain says they're trying to protect the neighborhood by keeping streets clear.

"Was it unfair then for some of those cars that were ticketed or towed because of that mistake? Well, it might have accidentally been put up, but it's still there to be enforced," said Sergeant Bain.

Bain says fairgoers need to pay attention or face the consequences.

Cops have also handed out more than 270 parking tickets. More than 20 cars were impounded on opening night and Sunday only four were towed.

So police are hoping that fairgoers are getting the message.