Any police officer and/or parking enforcement personnel of the
Township of Lancaster is authorized to remove and/or impound or to
order the removal and/or impounding of any vehicle parked on the streets,
highways or on public property of the Township in violation of any
Township ordinance or of the Vehicle Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Board of Supervisors shall designate specified buildings
or outdoor parking areas where vehicles impounded under this article
shall be taken and stored.
No storage garage shall be required to post a bond in order
to be approved as a pound.
The owner or custodian of any vehicle removed or impounded under
the provisions of this article shall pay the standard towing and storage
charges in effect in the Township at the time before the vehicle shall
be released. Payment shall be made at the office of the Township of
Lancaster, which shall issue a receipt therefor. Such payment shall
be in addition to the payment of any fine levied for the violation
of any ordinance or law necessitating the towing and/or impounding.
Within 24 hours from the time of the removal of any vehicle under authority granted by § 263-45, notice of the fact that such vehicle has been impounded shall be sent by an authorized representative of the Township to the owner of record of such vehicle. Such notice shall designate the place from which such vehicle was removed, the reason for its removal and impounding and the pound in which it shall have been impounded.
The payment of any towing and impounding charges authorized
by this article shall, unless such payment has been made under protest,
be final and conclusive and shall constitute a waiver of any right
to recover the money so paid.
A.
If any towing and impounding charges are paid under protest, the
offender shall be entitled to a hearing before a court of record having
jurisdiction. In such case, the defendant shall be proceeded against
for parking in violation of any Township ordinance or of any of the
provisions of the Vehicle Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
(75 Pa.C.S.A. § 101 et seq.), and shall receive such notice
as is provided by such Vehicle Code in other cases of summary offenses
and shall have the same rights as to appeal and waiver of hearing.
B.
If the court of record shall find in favor of the defendant or if
the alleged offender is not proceeded against as herein provided,
the Township shall refund to the alleged offender the towing and storage
charges paid under protest within five days after demand therefor.
The Township of Lancaster shall keep a record of all vehicles
impounded and shall at all reasonable times furnish the owners thereof
with information as to the place of storage of such vehicles.
The payment of towing and storage charges shall not operate
to relieve the owner or operator of any vehicle from liability for
any fine or penalty for the violation of any Township ordinance or
of any provision of the Vehicle Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
on account of which the vehicle was removed and impounded.
No vehicle shall be removed under the authority of this article
if, at the time of the intended removal thereof, the owner or person
for the time being in charge of such vehicle is present and expresses
a willingness and intention to remove such vehicle immediately.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to limit or change
in any way any rights or remedies to which a poundkeeper may be entitled.
