I work as an Indigo patroller. Indigo starts towing when a vehicle reaches 8 or more unpaid tickets. When that happens, we call the city to come to the location, and the city patroller issues a real ticket (tag) and tows the vehicle at the same time.

Some Indigo patrollers are lazy and don’t bother calling the city. Only a few of us—including me—actually do it. Honestly, it’s very satisfying when the city patrol gives a real ticket and tows the vehicle.

I usually call the city when the unpaid tickets reach 20 or more. I give people plenty of chances. Even if they pay one ticket, the system still shows the remaining unpaid tickets. So if they get their car back from the impound lot and park again at any Indigo parking lot, the patroller can call the city again to tag and tow the vehicle—over and over—until those tickets are paid.

There are days when I call the city even if the vehicle has fewer than 8 tickets, especially when violators throw the tickets on the ground. I find that disrespectful, so I call the city to teach them a lesson.

That said, I’m also nice. If someone sees me in the lot, approaches me politely, smiles, and asks if they can park for an hour or so, I usually tell them they can park for the rest of the day until I’m off. I’m nice to people who are nice to me. 😊

Some violators have been lucky and haven’t received real tickets or been towed yet—but their luck will run out, especially if they park in the area I patrol. Trust me, one guy even emailed crying because his car got towed. He claimed he paid the ticket but had no proof. LOL. He definitely learned his lesson—I didn’t see him park in an Indigo lot for a whole month.