The city council in Bridgeport, Connecticut set aside an effort Tuesday to exempt the disabled and veterans from the city's lucrative car confiscation program. Using a car license plate scanner called Bootfinder, the city searches the driveways of private homes and public streets to find vehicles it can tow away on the grounds that the owner has failed to pay a handful of parking tickets.

"We should have equal rules," City Councilman Robert Walsh (D) said, as cited in the Connecticut Post. "Are we exempting any handicapped car?"

Those who already have limited transportation options could find themselves stranded and endangered if the city hauls away their vehicle, but council members tabled the exemption proposal on the grounds that it would be "confusing." In December, the city towed away 21 vehicles just days before Christmas. Each vehicle owed an average of less than $150 in tickets and "fees".