I sided with the towing employee until I realized she had her car towed in Arlington, VA. As a former resident of that city, I now side with Britt McHenry. There is a long tradition of local towing companies towing cars for little if any reason and then charging confiscatory rates while mocking you.
Frank's Towing (the company that had the contract when I lived in Arlington) once towed my car off the street because they couldn't see my parking sticker. Well, it was night and they said they merely saw my Oregon plates, so they towed me. They pulled the bumper off my car and told me it was off when they towed me. They said if I didn't sign a waiver of damages, they would charge me daily penalty to keep my car in their lot (they wouldn't release it). The people behind the desk were verbally abusive, for the record.
I ended up leaving my car there and having my roommate (who was a lawyer) sue them. They settled.
My story isn't atypical. In fact, Frank's went out of business due to being sued so many times. I guess this place is the new Frank's.