Towing vehicles, while pricey for residents, created an efficient snow-clearing run for city crews this week.

Tuesday morning from midnight to 8:00 a.m crews towed approximately 15 vehicles. Les Wieler, Public Works Manager for Morden, explains it allowed them to clear city streets within a 12 hour window without having to dodge parked vehicles.

"It makes our job a lot easier if we can get everything done in the first pass, we don't have to go back and clean up windrows," he says, adding windrows can also create traffic issues after freezing into a wall of ice.

Morden City Council recently increased penalties and added a season-long ban to its winter snow removal parking by-law. Fines jumped from $20 to $150, in addition to towing charges which usually hit the $100 range.

The by-law is in effect from October 1 until April 30.