HAMPSTEAD — Linda Brown is on a mission to change things at Hampton Beach.

Last month, her daughter's car was towed by Dave's Garage and Linda and her husband had no choice but to pay the $235 tow charge.

She has filed a small claims suit against the garage, citing unfair business practices, towing without authorization and refusing to accept credit card payments and is seeking $705 in damages, three times the tow charges.

Brown is not the only one upset about the towing situation at Hampton Beach this summer.

McKayla Lyons, 16, of Bradford, Mass., said her boyfriend drove her and two friends to the beach June 10 and they paid a centralized parking meter to park. But when they returned to the parking spot, their car was gone. After 20 minutes of walking the strip looking for her dad's Ford Expedition, Lyons said Brown approached her and informed her that her car had been towed.

She said if it was not for Brown, she would not have known where to find her vehicle.

Brown pointed her to Dave's Garage, where Lyons also forked over $235 of a friend's graduation money to get the vehicle released. Lyons said she still has to pay the friend back.

Lyons said she had no idea she was parked in a private spot until the garage told her. Afterward, she and her boyfriend went back and saw the small signs on the 3-foot-high wooden fence in front of the spaces.

Lyons said she thought the no parking sign would be bigger and more familiar.

“I should be able to get my money back because the signs shouldn't be that low to the ground,” Lyons said.

It is stories like Lyons' that have sent Brown on a mission to get the parking signs changed at Hampton Beach.

Brown has sent letters to the state and has had discussions with Mike Houseman, operations manager for the New Hampshire Divisions of State Parks and Recreation, about changing the signs to fit state guidelines and law, including the need to be conspicuous.

“Based on 69 cars being towed in less than two months, I think it's fair to say those signs are not conspicuous,” Brown said.

Just last week, the state began installing larger and clearer “no parking” signs in response, but Brown said they have not put them everywhere.

“Just (Sunday) there were a number of beachgoers that had parked and displayed their ticket and could have been towed had we not warned them,” Brown said.

Brown said she is also upset that no one seems to be taking responsibility for the problem of the people who were towed without knowing they were in a tow zone.

Dave's Garage owner Dave Lavoie has said he is just doing his job, and the state has said it leases the spots to private owners, and are not the ones who call the tow company.

The state is working on addressing the signage.

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Gretyl Macalaster may be reached at gmacalaster@newstote.com.