Hundreds of people attending a high school football game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington found their cars had been towed during the game. They blame stadium employees for telling them to park illegally.
A mother and her children, along with hundreds of other people, were left stranded in the cold waiting to get their cars back from the A-AArlington Abandoned Vehicle impound lot.
"It's been awful. It's been a nightmare tonight," said Risa Leftwich. "This has been a horrible experience in 46-degree weather."
It all started Friday night when fans arrived at the stadium to watch the 3A state championship game between Tyler Chapel Hill and Alvarado.
Some people said stadium parking attendants waved them into the Walmart parking lot across the street. "They were wearing vests and they looked like official guards," said driver Musa Hasan.
The problem is, signs in the Walmart lot state, "No event parking: Vehicles may be towed at owner's expense." And that's exactly what happened.
The parking was free. But taxis waiting to take people to the tow lot were charging $20. And it cost people a few hundred dollars more to get their car back.
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"It's a scam, man. What can I say?" said Luke Nelson. "I think that's straight-up ridiculous. That's just a scam," said Don Whitley.
"Stadium staff do not direct traffic to those lots and, in fact, inform people parking in those areas that they will likely be towed," said Dallas Cowboys spokesperson Scott Agulnek.
Some people waited up to four hours before they got the keys to their car. One father had to arrange a ride for his daughter at 2:30 in the morning because he was stuck in Arlington.
"The band is already back to Tyler and nobody is there to pick her up," said Scott Green. Some people said they are going to complain to the city of Arlington.
