A WOMAN was left helpless after a mysterious car appeared in her driveway, preventing her from leaving her home.
The woman called the police department and towing services, but was left waiting hours for help.
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Pediatric nurse Holly Bell was trapped in her home in Portland, Oregon, when towing companies told her the unknown car blocking her property could take three days to be removed.
Bell frantically called the police for help, but she was told to go elsewhere for assistance.
“[Police] haven’t been able to help me,” she told local CBS outlet KOIN.
“They said to call towing, which said it could take three days to tow the car. I’ve called other towing companies.
“I could maybe get some help, but I need to wait to find out if the car was stolen or not.”
Bell went to the neighbors’ homes asking if they knew where the car came from.
Luckily, one neighbor, Jared Lutui, knew exactly how the mystery vehicle got in Bell’s driveway.
“This is my roommate’s car. It broke down when he went to drop his daughter off,” Lutui said.
Lutui said they called a tow truck for help when the car broke down.
“We’ve been waiting for a tow truck. When we finally got the truck, they were supposed to drop it off at our house.”
However, when the truck arrived, the truck dropped the car off at Bell’s house instead of his home.
Lutui offered to push the car off his neighbor’s property, but said he needs the keys from the tow truck to do that.
Bell said she was only partly relieved to find out whose car it was.
The nurse said she was frustrated that she couldn’t get help all day from law enforcement and was left running late for work due to the problem.
“I mean, I could be waiting all day, basically, and I have things to do,” she told KOIN.
“I just didn’t realize the response would be this slow.”
Why is it illegal to block a driveway?
Blocking a driveway is illegal in the United States due to the limiting of access to emergency care.
Aside from being inconsiderate, blocking a driveway is a serious safety hazard, cops say.
Blocking the driveway of someone’s home is illegal in all 50 states, with fines and penalties varying by state.
For instance, blocking a driveway in San Francisco, California can earn a driver a hefty towing $286 fee and a $110 ticket.
That’s not including the feed to retrieve the vehicle from an impound lot, which averages over $600.
In an emergency, a blocked driveway can mean the difference between life and death for a patient.
“In the United States, it is illegal to block a driveway, even your own,” reads Parklio’s website.
“It’s a matter of public safety: emergency services like fire trucks, ambulances, or police cars need that space to get in and out.
“An obstructed driveway might also prevent vehicles from pulling out onto the road to seek emergency services.”
Source: San Francisco Police Department, Parklio
After several calls, a tow truck was able to come later in the afternoon to move the car.
Once the car was towed, Bell finally made it to work.
She said she was nothing short of a mess when she arrived, and her absence caused chaos in the office.
The Portland Police Department told the outlet that when non-emergency calls happen, they forward them to the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
However, when Bell tried to call PBOT, she was told that since the car was on private property, it wasn’t in their jurisdiction.
