NEW YORK -- A Great Neck woman who tried to stop her car from being towed ended up getting towed herself -- and the tow-truck driver ended up getting arrested.

Nassau County police said Donald Wilson was towing the BMW from the parking lot of Waldbaums in Great Neck at about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday when the car's owner saw what was happening and tried to stop him.

Police say Wilson drove away with the woman hanging from the side door of the tow truck -- and kept going for about two miles before he was stopped by police officers.

He was arrested on a charge of reckless endangerment and issued three tickets for violations of town ordinances. (Thanks Aaron)

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

MISSOURI -- Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has obtained a temporary restraining order against a company that has been illegally towing cars from lots near the Pageant near the University City Loop.

The order against Bruce Tipton Jr., who does business as Tipton & Sons Towing in Wellston, also requires Tipton to follow state laws requiring towing, storage and fees if he tows vehicles from other areas.

Nixon is also suing Tipton and his business to recover fees from consumers whose cars were illegally towed. He is asking that Tipton pay quadruple restitution to consumers affected by the practices, as well as penalties and costs to the state, and that Tipton's towing license be suspended.

Tipton allegedly charged towing and storage fees higher than posted rates; failed to notify vehicle owners within five days of the towing; and committed other violations of state laws.

Nixon said many of the violations took place near the Pageant. A sign near the Pageant encouraged guests to park in a lot at a nearby funeral home for $10. However, guests could not find an attendant in the lot, and left their cars there.

The suit said funeral home employees then contacted Tipton to tow the cars. Consumers had to pay an average of $330 to get the cars back. Nixon said Tipton and the funeral home split the proceeds from the tow. (St. Louis Business Journal)

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

TEXAS -- The Houston Professional Towing Association has offered an alternative to Mayor Bill White's very expensive "mobility plan" and seems to be gaining council support.

The mayor's plan called for splitting up the freeway into 21 tow zones that would be sold annually for $50,000 each. This huge fee could not be afforded by many smaller companies and may in fact put many smaller companies, that would no longer get freeway work, out of business.

The towing association's plan  is a much more reasonable fee of $500 and a fair rotation list of all companies. The associations plan also would require towing companies to certify their drivers in incident management, and would give motorists four hours to get their car removed from the shoulder of the freeway.

The mayor's plan would take freedom of choice away from motorists by requiring one single company to remove all cars from their freeway zone regardless of the motorists wishes or motorclub association.

The mayor contends that his top priority is to keep traffic moving and get disabled cars removed from the freeway in a timely manor but many people wonder what huge fees and exclusionary rules have to do with attaining that goal.

Several council members who were encouraged to vote in-favor of the mayor's plan have spoken out against the plan.

Councilwoman Wiseman said the mayor's plan violated federal anti-trust laws because it takes away a motorist choice of tow companies and restricts competition among companies.

The city council met Monday and agreed to delay a vote on the issue.

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

DELAWARE -- Leave your car in a private lot in Marple, and it may just cost you more to retrieve it if it is towed.

Marple Township commissioners agreed Monday night to consider raising the cap towing companies are allowed to charge for hooking and removing unauthorized cars from private parking lots in the township.

Tow Squad owner David Money presented parking lot sign photographs to the commissioners showing that surrounding municipalities authorize charges up to $50 for tow hookups and $150 for storage.

Current Marple ordinance caps towing charges at $35 for hookup and $85 per day for storage, and most nearby towns allow charges of $50 for hookup and $135 for storage, Money said.

Money, who said he does not now have any contracts to tow cars from private lots in Marple, told the commissioners that he refused a contract because he considered the rates inadequate. He also said that one tow company that operates in the township removes cars to a lot in North Philadelphia. Money said his impoundment lot is located much closer, in Upper Darby Township near the 69th Street Terminal.

Commissioner Daniel D. Leefson (R-7) asked Money why a car owner would have to pay $50 for a tow truck to release a car that had been hooked but not towed away.

"My trucks cost $60,000, they are fully insured and the cost of fuel is rising," Money said. "The charge is for the driver's time."

Leefson said he didn't want those being towed to pay too much, but also didn't want car owners to have to go to North Philadelphia to retrieve their vehicles.

The board then voted to consider at its June working session an ordinance increasing the fee. (Dan Goldfischer - NewsofDelawareCounty.com)

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

NEW HAMPSHIRE -- A high-octane slice of American culture was on display this past weekend at Hampton Beach State Park, site of the annual Tow-Truck Convention, which drew participants from hundreds of miles away.

More than 100 wreckers, flatbeds and heavy-recovery cranes - decorated in every color, from blue and black to pink and purple - flooded the field in Saturday morning’s rising heat for a variety of one-of-a-kind events.

Sal and Tony Mazzio made the trip from Brooklyn, N.Y., with their entire crew (which included a few under-10-year-olds). They came primarily to show off their custom-detailed rig and were hoping to win the Beauty Pageant, which only trucks were invited to enter.

Their 40-foot crane was a spectacle in itself. Painted a swirling mix of pink and yellow, it featured renderings of the Manhattan skyline (including conspicuous silhouettes of two identically tall buildings), the Statue of Liberty and a bulldog wearing boxing gloves with a Band-Aid on its head that said "U.S.A."

Outfitted just last year, their truck featured more than 150 small lights lining its entire length, and every available surface was chromed. But most impressive were its spinning rims - hubcaps that continue to turn even after the vehicle stops - more commonly associated with gangsta rappers than tow trucks. But, hey, Apple Towing is from Brooklyn - fahgeddaboutit.

"It’s something different that not everybody has," said Stephen Paglioca, an employee of the Mazzios who, along with the rest of the crew on Saturday morning, was shining the truck. The truck recently won first place in a beauty competition in Englishtown, N.J.; next week it’ll be off to Boston, and after that, another show in Lake George, N.Y.

But more important for the Apple crew, and most everyone else attending the weekend event, was, as Paglioca put it, "having a good time and not towing trucks."

The convention drew small independent operators as well as bigger companies with fleets of a dozen trucks.

Peter Anderson came from Buxton, Maine, in his 1985 Chevrolet 1-ton, an upgrade from the 1981 antique he broke into the business with.

It was his fourth time at the event, he said, to "walk around and look at all the pretty trucks."

Standing in front of a line of brand-new wreckers and flatbeds for sale, he scoffed when asked if he were going to buy one. "I wish," he said.

For many, the convention was a welcome break from the round-the-clock work of towing. It also gave owners and drivers a chance to catch up on the latest equipment and technology, some of which is quite elaborate.

A sales representative from Marim, a security company, demonstrated a motion-detecting digital surveillance system with a wide-angle camera that zooms in on the source of the motion. Robert Reside said it could be used in the large impound lots many tow companies maintain.

In addition to the Beauty Pageant, the convention offered demonstrations of difficult towing techniques.

Two crane rigs intricately lowered a "monster" concrete mixer onto its side. A heavy recovery vehicle was then used to haul it back onto its wheels, jack it up and pull it away. Later, an already battered Ford Taurus would be flipped and a smaller wrecker would turn it back over.

Outdoors under the flawless sky, country music blared from a speaker: "It’s all right ’cause it’s midnight, and I got two more bottles of wine."

High up overhead, strung between two extended cranes, a 40-foot American flag welcomed a steady stream of cars onto the grounds. Looking up at the flag, Peter Dalton, owner of Lookout Towing and Recovery in Londonderry, said, "The bigger the better."

In the vendors’ tent, however, the flag was put to more serious use. A group of six women selling yellow ribbons and magnets was raising money for care packages to be sent to the soldiers of the 167th Corps Support Group and the 821st and 888th Transportation Units, with which their husbands are serving north of Baghdad.

"We are also trying to help out the families with what they are left with while our soldiers are fighting for our freedom," said Barbara Clougherty, of Tyngsboro, Mass., who organized the group.

Not everyone had such lofty goals for the weekend though; still, no matter what one’s agenda, Saturday’s summerlike weather contributed to a party atmosphere on Hampton Beach.

In a moment of devilish candor, when asked what really brought him to the convention, Sal Mazzio said, "Besides the girls?" (John Pedler - Exeter News-Letter)

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

WASHINGTON -- According to personnel from AAA Washington, AAA has lost the GM Wrap contract and will no longer service these vehicles when the current contract expires.

The current contract will expire in September of this year and there is no word on which auto club or ERS provider will take over the GM road service.

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

Allison Transmission is moving towards greater customization of its automatic transmission products across a variety of trucking niches to help fleet owners better match transmission specs with their intended application.

“We’re going to deliver a more tightly spec’d product to the customer to fit their specific operating conditions,” Mitch Murray, Allison’s manager of North American product development said.

We’re talking about having much tighter performance calibrations so we have much greater odds for success, and that the specs a customer orders for a particular truck will match the type of work it’s expected to perform under a variety of conditions,” he said.

Allison is focusing more closely on transmission fluid research, of which its new synthetic TranSyn product represents a recent breakthrough, he added.

“It’s an overused term, but we’re really taking a more ‘holistic’ approach to designing transmissions now – and that includes the fluid,” Murray said. “What we’re trying to do is transition from the wear and tear on components to wear and tear on the transmission fluid and filter.

Having fluids like TranSyn that don’t shear down and oxidize helps us make that transition, and so give fleets much better life cycle costs where their transmission are concerned.” (Thanks Rob)

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

TEXAS -- At a meeting with the city of Houston, tow truck drivers proposed some alternatives to the city's high priced "mobility plan" that intends to sell 21 freeway tow zones for $50,000 each.

David Saperstein, Houston's traffic czar, insists that the city's expensive towing plan is solely for public safety and to keep traffic moving, and he implies that lowering the fee would somehow endanger the public or prevent traffic from flowing freely and he says nothing will stand in the way of public safety.

Towing companies have proposed a more workable fee structure of $2000 per truck which would allow them to participate in the program with larger companies while still providing a tidy profit to the city.

Towing companies have also proposed that the city drop it's greatly inflated $1 million per truck insurance requirement in favor of the state requirement of $300,000 per truck.

Many local towing companies say the city's requirements can only be met by large towing companies that have big budgets to work with. The tow operators insist that these huge fees keep smaller companies from competing and will likely put many out of business.

Some towing companies have proposed banding together in an effort to afford the huge $50,000 fee, but forced mergers are not a favorite plan among most towing companies.

Saperstein also said that he would also require background checks and a dress code for tow truck drivers.

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

CALIFORNIA -- A man trying to retrieve an impounded truck at a Vista tow yard beat an employee and crashed through a gate, San Diego County Sheriff's officials said today.

The man arrived at Redline Towing at 451 Olive Avenue just after 11 a.m. yesterday and beat one of the tow yard's employees, knocking him to the ground, Sgt. Edward Musgrove said.

As the employee got up and tried to shut the tow yard's gate, the man found his truck and drove toward the worker, Musgrove said.

The employee jumped out of the way as the man crashed through the gate and got away before sheriff's deputies arrived, Musgrove said.

Deputies found the truck a short time later and arrested the driver, Musgrove said.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, faces charges of assault, burglary, robbery and auto theft, Musgrove said.

The man told deputies that he took his truck from the tow yard because he did not have the money to pay the storage fees, Musgrove said. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

TEXAS -- Houston tow truck drivers are banding together to come up with a plan that will put the brakes on Mayor Bill White's mobility plan.

"The result of this meeting would have a proposal for the city that would work for everybody, and not a few," said tow truck driver Nick Skafi.

The tow truck drivers say the mayor's plan would leave small towing companies in the cold because it requires a minimum $50,000 bid to work on certain sections of freeways in Houston.

The mayor says his plan would prevent too many trucks showing up at accidents and slowing traffic even more.

The towing companies are pushing for a dispatch system instead, and they plan to include it in their proposal.

"The trucks will not be running wild on the freeways, trying to get to the scene. And it will eliminate having 10 and 12 wreckers trying to get to the scene, and it will also have accountability to the wrecker drivers where they would abide by certain rules and regulations, fees and whatnot," said Skafi.

The drivers also support what is known as instant management.

That's a system that would allow drivers to remove stalled vehicles, and vehicles that were in accidents prior to an officer's arrival -- if there were no injuries.

These drivers say they will work in overdrive to get city lawmakers' approval.

The drivers hope to have a final draft by next week, before Wednesday's City Council meeting.

Drivers are also in favor of the Safe-Clear program. That makes sure drivers are not only trained in towing, but can also safely move consumers in and out of traffic on the freeway. (Ron Reynolds - News 24)

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story

NEW YORK -- Suburban tow truck operators are looking to both the courthouse and the statehouse for relief in their battle with New York City over its demand that they purchase city licenses to pick up and drop off cars within the five boroughs.

Lawyers for state towing associations and the Automobile Club of New York — the downstate affiliate of AAA — head to federal court next week for a hearing on their claim that the city's Department of Consumers Affairs exceeded its legal authority by requiring tow trucks from the suburbs and elsewhere to obtain city medallions.

"A lot of companies, their business is hinging on it," Julie Gambardella of Gambardella and Sons Towing in Yonkers said about the May 7 hearing in Manhattan. "(A bad decision) will literally put them out of business."

Meanwhile, state Sen. Nicholas Spano, R-Yonkers, introduced legislation this week that would prohibit the Department of Consumer Affairs from regulating towing done at the car owner's request.

"I think this is a fair approach to tow truck operators who are trying to maintain a business and occasionally have to cross the New York City boundary," said Spano, who has been trying to negotiate a settlement with members of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration.

Spano's legislation and the pending court action represent a two-pronged effort to solve a dispute that advocates say could make towing a car to and from New York City more expensive and limit consumers' ability to choose a company of their liking.

The dispute erupted at the start of the year when agents from Consumer Affairs began impounding tow trucks that had crossed into New York City and were not carrying city medallions. Agency officials argued that they were simply enforcing a 1993 law passed by the New York City Council requiring all tow trucks operating in the city to be licensed.

Tow operators, including several from Westchester and Rockland, argued that the city had arbitrarily violated informal reciprocity agreements that recognized medallions granted by other municipalities.

They charged that the city was simply trying to boost revenues. Medallions cost $600 per truck, and fines for not having one can cost as much as $1,000.

Earlier this month, a federal judge issued a restraining order preventing the city from enforcing the law until a hearing today. The hearing was later pushed back a week because of a scheduling conflict.

Peter O'Connell, a lawyer for the Empire State Towing and Recovery Association, a trade organization with several local members, said federal law allows local municipalities only to regulate tows such as those ordered by police officers and private property owners who want illegally parked cars removed from their property. The state, he added, has the overall responsibility for licensing drivers and registering vehicles.

Spano's legislation would clarify New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law to reflect the federal law. Because it would have an impact on city-based tow operators, as well as those in the suburbs, Spano hopes that the bill will give the Bloomberg administration incentive to reach a negotiated settlement.

"They need to understand that we are serious about resolving this problem," Spano said. "The introduction of this bill demonstrates that."

Dina Improta, a spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs, said she had not seen Spano's bill and declined to comment on it. (Glenn Blain - The Journal News)

Return to Headlines - Comment on This Story