Customers in Deep Ellum are losing money to people posing as parking attendants, according to local businesses.
For several months, employees at various bars and restaurants have been alerted by customers to someone collecting fees outside their businesses. But none of them have actually hired the person.
“It started like, seven months ago with somebody coming in and saying, ‘I paid the parking attendant.’ That's not a parking attendant,” said Haley Gay, manager at Pecan Lodge.
Diners of the BBQ joint have left to find tickets on their cars, according to Gay, confused as to why they were fined if they paid someone.
“Customers come in and think they've paid for parking in our lot,” Gay explained. “They've said, 'Well, that guy said it was five bucks.’ You don't know who to pay and not to pay.”
Over the weekend, an employee of Reno’s Chop Shop in Deep Ellum posted a warning in a community watch group on Facebook. It showed a picture of a man in a traffic vest, who allegedly was pretending to be an employee of the lot.
“We've seen it recently. We've seen it in the past. It's been an ongoing issue,” said Savannah Compton, a manager at Café Brazil.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Some of the lots in Deep Ellum contain signs reading, “Do Not Pay Attendants.” They then direct customers to a kiosk, where they can pay with a credit card.
Still, problems persist. According to Compton, they regularly catch people sneaking into Café Brazil’s private lot in an attempt to park customer cars.
"They wear like a vest, or they just stand in the parking lot and wave at cars to come over, and people are really gullible,” Compton explained. “If someone looks like they're official and they're confident and they seem like they know what they're doing, they'll fork however much dollars. I've heard anywhere from $5 to $10 to $20."
In an effort to address the parking concerns and other issues, a neighborhood watch meeting has been scheduled for Saturday, February 20, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. It will be held at St. Pete’s Dancing Marlin.
“I don’t know the solution,” said Gay.
