NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Nashville booting company has been ordered to issue refunds to hundreds of drivers thanks to one man’s research, persistence, and impassioned testimony to Metro’s Transportation Licensing Commission (TLC) Thursday.

The TLC ruled Nashville Booting LLC. was operating without a permit from Dec. 1, 2023 to Dec. 12, 2023, after a Nashville resident, Steven Knapp, uncovered the issue and filed a complaint. On Thursday, Feb. 15, following powerful testimony from Knapp, commissioners put the company on probation until it can prove it has refunded every driver whose car was illegally booted during that time.

The issue came to light when Knapp and his two friends’ cars were booted on Dec. 8, 2023 in an East Nashville parking lot. Knapp admitted it was his fault he didn’t see the paid parking sign.

However, when he tried to look up Nashville Booting LLC.’s permit to operate, he discovered it had expired on Dec. 1, 2023, seven days prior to his car being booted.

“When I started to dispute the booting with the booting company, they basically put me through the wringer for about 12 hours and 50 emails and just said every sort of thing under the sun to make me go away,” Knapp said.

Public records show Nashville Booting LLC. was granted a new permit on Dec. 12, 2023, which Knapp said confirms the company was operating for at least 12 days without a permit. In addition, Knapp said the booting signage in the parking lot where he left his car was 0.5 inches smaller than what Metro’s ordinance required, because he measured it himself.

In response, Knapp filed a complaint with Metro’s TLC, and while giving some powerful testimony Thursday, he asked commissioners to revoke the company’s new permit.

“I filed this complaint because Nashville Booting lied about its booting permit status and then laughed about it,” Knapp told commissioners.

A representative for Nashville Booting LLC., Brian Miller, also testified to commissioners who said the company has never had a lapse in permits before, and had “generally” been in good standing during its eight years operating in Nashville.

“Did you look into why [the process of applying for a new permit] failed this time?” a commissioner asked Miller.

“From what I were told, our ownership got the paperwork together, he sent it out, he did not send the payment with it, and he didn’t have everything that was required for it to go through,” Miller responded.

Knapp didn’t buy that explanation.

“It’s interesting to me that Nashville Booting basically said, ‘Oopsies, we forgot to send our money in,'” Knapp told News 2. “The evidence shows that’s not the case, and they didn’t provide any evidence that that’s the case, so I think it’s pretty lax over there. If we’re going to be held to the one standard, then Nashville Booting needs to be held to the same standard if they’re going to profit off of people.”

While commissioners did not grant Knapp’s request to revoke Nashville Booting’s new permit, he told News 2 requiring the company to refund drivers who were illegally booted still sends a clear message.

“It does provide some sort of notice to anybody else out there in the booting company world that if you are going to seize people’s vehicles, you better have your paperwork in order, just like everybody else,” Knapp said. “Truth and justice are a little bit in short supply in America right now, so it’s very important for everybody to speak up whenever they see something like this happening.”

Nashville Booting told commissioners it boots 150 to 200 cars per week, so the company will likely have to issue hundreds of refunds.

News 2 reached out to Nashville Booting for a statement, but had not heard back by the time this article was published.