Many students have had to deal with the hassle of having their car towed, but usually they get them back in a matter of hours — not five days later.

Both Joshua Mills, freshman in industrial engineering, and Dan Bumblauskas, sophomore in chemical engineering, parked their cars in residence hall student government parking spaces in Lot 61 near the Towers Residence Association on the night of March 22.

Both cars, which had dealer license plates, were towed after a TRA resident called Bud’s Service Center, 1294 West Lincoln Way.

Mills and Bumblauskas called the ISU Department of Public Safety and reported their vehicles stolen.

“No one knew where [my car] was,” said Bumblauskas, who had borrowed a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant from Merle Hay Mitsubishi while the Nissan Pathfinder he had recently purchased was being repaired.

DPS officials told Bumblauskas and Mills they had no record of the cars being towed but promised to investigate the situation.

“I was pretty upset. I’d only had the car for four days,” Mills said about his black 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix.

Doug Houghton, director of the DPS Parking Division, said the cars were towed by Bud’s, but the towing was not approved by campus officials.

“It’s my understanding that a student who was upset with parking out at Towers called and requested them towed,” Houghton said. “The only agency on campus who is authorized to call a tow is the Department of Public Safety. DPS and the Parking Division were not involved in any way.”

Houghton declined to name the TRA resident who made the call to Bud’s, and he said DPS does not plan to take any action against the individual who placed the call.

“It appears to be a difficulty between a couple individuals and a towing company,” he said.

John Murphy, owner of Bud’s Service Center, said his business normally doesn’t tow cars from campus because the university has a towing contract with Butch’s Amoco, Lincoln Way and Duff Avenue. However, Murphy said under certain circumstances, they will tow cars if they receive a call from an individual or a department.

Houghton said the only service DPS uses for towing services is Butch’s, and all other tows are unauthorized unless they are concerning an individual’s own car.

Mills said Bud’s employees told him the price to retrieve his car was $118, but since he thought Bud’s made a mistake in towing his car, he only paid $25.

Bumblauskas said he never did recover his car from Bud’s, but he did notify Merle Hay Mitsubishi of the location of the car and encouraged the business not to pay to recover it.

Bumblauskas also said he had to buy new hockey skates when he thought his car was stolen because he stores his hockey equipment in his car.

“It was more of an inconvenience than anything,” Bumblauskas said.

Mills was less forgiving.

Mills said he was not too pleased the temporary student government parking permit hanging from his vehicle’s rearview mirror was not there when he retrieved his car.

He said he blames the mix-up on the TRA resident who made the call to Bud’s, and he has contacted his attorneys to possible pursue legal action against either Bud’s or the unnamed student.