Rooco Ltd., an Alberta-based company that fought drivers’ traffic tickets in court, has shut down.

In a statement posted to its website Tuesday, Rooco said it has “ceased substantially all operations and has begun providing notices to customers of the termination of the company’s services.”

Global News interviewed one of the founders in May 2018 when the start-up company was launching. At that time, Adam Ashton described Rooco as a ticket-sharing service. It charged customers a fee equal to 85 to 90 per cent of their fine, then assigned an agent to appear in traffic court to get the fine reduced. Rooco would succeed in some cases and overall, expected to profit.

On Tuesday morning, several Rooco customers contacted Global News to report concerns with the company.

Global News reached out to Rooco for a response. The company’s phone lines were inactive and its social media sites had been taken down. Global News also notified Service Alberta and the Better Business Bureau, both of which are looking into this case.

In a statement posted on its website early Tuesday afternoon, Rooco said it has ceased operations because of changes to the way Alberta courts operate that no longer allow them to represent clients as authorized agents.

“I believe we have done everything we could to resolve this situation and regret that we are unable to continue to provide support to our over 5,000 satisfied customers in Alberta,” CEO Andrew Ashton said in the statement.

Rooco has started sending termination notices to customers with imminent traffic court appearance dates, the statement said, and the company expects all termination notices will be disseminated in the coming days.

Global News has also reached out to Alberta Justice for a response.

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