Battery flat after being towed

[Paralla]

Yesterday my Roc got towed by Lambeth council (to Mitcham!). Of course I got the blame all sorts of accusations about expired MOT's, parking permits and insurance being bandied about. Turns out it had been left on a yellow line by my other half.

Anyway by the time he went to collect it from the pound the battery appeared to be flat. I got a very short message on my phone saying "car won't start" phoned and apparently when he was trying to start it the front windows were dropping as if you just unlocked it. I helpfully directed him to the roadside assistance card in the centre console. He managed to get it started eventually so didn’t have to wait for roadside assistance but does anyone know if this is a common thing? Is it not smart enough to stop the alarm before the battery goes flat.

I guess the alarm (I don't even know if it has an alarm) would have been going off for some time since they lifted it.

£265 to get it back! I told him that was his Christmas present.

[char]

Sounds more like it went into a lockdown I'm being stolen kind of mode If the battery was flat it wouldnt have the power to drop the windows and it wouldnt have started?

[ZephyR]

I seem to recall getting the windows popping up and down when I used to try and start it with the steering lock engaged, but this was as a result of turning the ignition off after each attempt - it does that in readiness for you getting out, presuming that you are about to open the doors.
Apart from that I and others have had various odd things occur with the windows and the door locks - usually just once off problems.
The alarm should stop after a short period of time (about a minute perhaps). This is to save the battery and to avoid your car causing hours of annoyance to the neighbours.

[Cuprabob]

I seem to recall getting the windows popping up and down when I used to try and start it with the steering lock engaged, but this was as a result of turning the ignition off after each attempt - it does that in readiness for you getting out, presuming that you are about to open the doors.

The windows don't drop until you pull the key out of the ignition, not when you switch the ignition off. Although, I have experienced the dancing windows routine with the steering lock. I assume the mechanism within tje ignition switch gets confused and thinks the key has been taken out when it has not.