UPS truck gets booted in downtown Raleigh

Driver James Riley said he was inside making a delivery at an office building at 19 W. Hargett St. for less than two minutes. He walked outside to find his truck immobilized.  

Riley said he has parked at that location to make deliveries for the past 15 years. He got the boot once before in October. 

"I don't know why. This is the second time being booted like this. I guess, they've got their reasons," Riley said. 

The City of Raleigh said that Riley was parked in a no-parking zone and that when they ran the truck's license plate number, it had $370 in unpaid parking tickets. 

Riley called his boss, who paid the tickets so the boot could be removed and he could finish his deliveries.

Former North Carolina Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten thought the boots were a little "over the top." 

"The people that make commerce go, and you put a boot on them. Somebody is a little boot happy," Edmisten said. 

The city has been in the parking enforcement business for about a year after taking it over from a private company last summer.

The transportation manager said they try to have loading zones on every block, but they can't put them in front of every building.