Dominion Towing Predatory Towing Practicies by Dominion Towing Lorton Virginia

As a resident of Fairfax County for 43 years, I tend to be extremely cautious about parking always erroring on the side of adhering to parking regulations. Even if this means I park down the street and have to carry items back to the location rather than double park.

Even with my cautious behaviour, Dominion Towing removed my vehicle from three seperate locations all of which had questionable signage. Fairfax county ruled against them on one occasion over 10 years ago but appears to have changed their stance. In the last two tows, the county says the ordinance around towing isn't explicity enough to say they voilated it.

In the first case at Rezza CT in Springfield VA, the residents next to the school decided to change their parking reulations to free up parking. I have no issue with these residents as it's their pregotive. However, they hired Dominion Towing who posted signs on the lef side of the entrace behind foilage when you enter from the main street. This corner includes lots of pedestrian traffic with students walking to shool so it's not like a driver should be taking their eyes off the road to look on the left side.  All other streets in the area have parking signs on the right side which are clearly visible.  I drove this same route and parked and at no time could I see the parking sign through my windsield. I feel strongly that "clearly visible" in the ordinance means you should be able to see it through a normal windshield from all angles a typical auto would driive into the street. I also feel that on a two way street signs should be on the right side. 

Dominion Towing says they took video of my under age daughter when she heard about her car being towed and that she's "no angle" where a parent on scene said that the driver called the kids "hoodlums". Is it legal for them to video my underage daughter without my permission? 

On a different towing situation, my son parked our car at our church where there was no sign indicating towing. He asked the office and they said "we do not tow" so he left the key with a friend who needed the car while we were out of town on vacation. The friend was delayed by over a week in picking up the car and Dominion Towing removed the vehicle.  Not only did they tow the car with no towing signs, but they failed to take pre-tow pictures of all angles of the car. While I noticed damange to the front of my car right away, I didn't attribute it to the tow until a professional showed me my car appears to have been dragged.  Dominion Towing could not provide any pre-tow photos of the front of my car despite this being a regulation. Because I assumed my son's friend picked up the vehicle, I didn't even know it was towed until there was $1000 work of storage fees. Dominion Towing credited $500 of these since they hadn't notified me of the tow prior to that date.

I contacted both the county and Supervisor Pat Herrity's office about these issues. They say the ordinance isn't clear about what "clearly visible" for parking signs means. They also state the ordinance on pre-tow photos doesn't stipulate how many the towing operator must take. The fact that there's not a single one of the front of my car, they said I can sue or have my insurance process a claim. Both options existed to me prior to the new ordinance on pre-tow photos so I fail to see what this new ordinance does to protect residents.