Towing Issues: Vulture tow companys, fire lane, storage fee

Question
I recently had my car towed from my mother in laws gated apartment complex.  Their reason was for being parked in a fire lane. They charged me $329.00/ $190 for towing $44 for storage fee and $95 for an afterhours fee because they are closed on the weekends. They had my car for a total of two hours.  Here was the situation..... Parking is very strained in this complex so I parked parallel in front of my mother in laws garage. Right where her garage ends is where the fire lane starts. So in actuality I was parked in front of the fire lane. I understand that the law is 15 feet near a fire lane But the fire lane that starts next to her garage ends at the handicapped parking so they really have no place to tow me if they don't also tow the handicapped people. I was there for maybe a couple minutes over an hour. After realizing that my car was missing I went to the managers office who told me that they did not call but that they have a contract with the towing company to circle around every once in a while. I was under the impression that it is illegal to have such a contract and to do a Private property towing you have to have the property manager present to authorize the tow.  Any advice you could give me would greatly help.

Answer
Well for advise, I have to say the basic rule applies.  

If its not in a space it can get towed.

 Your comments about the vulture practice of the towing service patrolling the lot looking for violators is a comment statement.

You did not mention the state, but I bet it was California.  Yes there are some changes coming to the laws which govern the towing rules and regulations for towing.

Patrol towing is usually a practice in parking lots of apartments as its the only way to enforce the fire lane violations which happen.

Did you know (this is from Oregon laws ) that any vehicle parked in the fire lanes is able to receive a $ 500.00 ticket to the vehicle owner AND THE PROPERTY OWNER.  Then they will have the vehicle towed.

Fire departments do cruise areas looking for this violation from time to time.
What makes this practice common is that you have managers of property who say live in the complex but have things to do from time to time like go to church or sleep at night.
IF you knew that the manager was gone and could not authorize the tow lets say for 2 hours on Sunday morning you could park anywhere without fear of being towed.  same for late at night.

I hope this helps you a bit with your questions.