My Car Was Illegally Towed. A Complete and Utter Clusterf**k.

[vtgts300kw 90]

Long story short, my car was illegally towed away ( and damaged under tow! ) from public land, at the behest of a building company, who were illegally operating outside the scope which their permit allowed. The building company seems to be making it right by me, but the towing company... jesus.

The towing company would have known ( should have ) what they were doing was illegal, but did it anyway. An email response I got from them was bull of blatant bullshit. I will let my insurance company deal with the damage claim, i'm not expecting a good outcome...

My question is, who do I lay a complaint against the towing company with? The cops don't want to know, and the Transport Agency ( who licence them ) don't seem to want to know either. They acted illegally, knew they were acting illegally, and did it anyway. They then basically extorted $280 from me for the privilege.

[Neal 512]

I'd go for the building company ,claim for $280 plus court costs , excess for insurance plus $70 per hour for your time.( small claims court)

Give them the option of setting out of court.

[gjm 3193]

I had a similar problem when working in London. The towing company are the ones liable, but they will have no interest whatsoever in dealing with you, answering queries or anything. It will take a lawyer, and possibly a court date, to get a reasonable response.

My car was towed from a private car park, where I was entitled to be and correctly parked in clearly designated space. It was towed because someone in another area of the building, unaffected by my parking, didn't recognise my car. There were no enquiries, no-one asking who the car belonged to - he just phoned the company and said to take it away.

The towing company will not release the car until they have money. I even had the owner of the building go to the company with proof of ownership and correct parking, but it made no difference; the people employed to drive the trucks and operate the yards aren't employed for their decision-making skills. I reported the car stolen, but you can imagine how may of those the police get in London. I finally got some action by flagging down a police car passing the impound yard (by standing in the middle of the road) and suggesting the yard was being used to fence stolen cars. Apparently it wouldn't be the first time that had been true - tow trucks make the perfect theft vehicle.

[polley 916]

Burn the place to the ground. I f**king hate towies.

[vtgts300kw 90]

I'd go for the building company ,claim for $280 plus court costs , excess for insurance plus $70 per hour for your time.( small claims court)

Give them the option of setting out of court.

The building company has just reimbursed me the towing cost + extra for the dick around.

I'll see what happens with the towing company, then go back to the building company.

[Neal 512]

Getting there then, I had similar hassles. Most people don't like going to court.

[handgrenade 189]

Good luck mate that sounds like a nightmare

Have heard horror stories of full time 4wd cars being towed incorrectly and blowing diffs etc

Edited February 12, 2015 by handgrenade

[Driftit 1945]

Glad you are getting somewhere with this.

I was towed from my workplace (Vodafone) many years ago by some twat who had no authority to request a vehicle towed.

He didn't recognize my new car. The car was towed in reverse and they badly damaged the front bumper and curbed a wheel.

Same issues with the towing company. They were impossible to deal with. They don't require customer service whatsoever.

Vodafone reimbursed me for all damages and the towing fee in the end. But it took me a long time to track down who had requested it in the first place. It took him bragging about mistakenly having a car towed to a co-worker months later. I did plot revenge but I think he knew it was coming and left shortly after.

[vtgts300kw 90]

Glad you are getting somewhere with this.

I was towed from my workplace (Vodafone) many years ago by some twat who had no authority to request a vehicle towed.

He didn't recognize my new car. The car was towed in reverse and they badly damaged the front bumper and curbed a wheel.

Same issues with the towing company. They were impossible to deal with. They don't require customer service whatsoever.

Vodafone reimbursed me for all damages and the towing fee in the end. But it took me a long time to track down who had requested it in the first place. It took him bragging about mistakenly having a car towed to a co-worker months later. I did plot revenge but I think he knew it was coming and left shortly after.

Same situation here, the front bumper was damaged from being towed backwards.

The towing companies keep records of who requests the tows, but it's pretty hard to get the info from them.

Surprisingly, I haven't heard back from the towing company after I responded, calling their response to me bullshit.

[HSB 282]

OP give me a PM with the current state of affairs - you have a couple of options available to you.

As with this stuff it all requires time.

[Matth5 471]

Towing companies seem to be scumbags.

Towed one of my previous flatmates cars and damaged the underside somehow, something hit the underside and damaged the sump.

Also car was an FWD auto, shouldn't they be making sure it's the front that is raised?

They had it 'repaired' but on the way back home it broke down again with engine and trans warning lights flashing, and towing company just refused to take any responsibility.

Clamping and towing just seems too frequent and open to abuse. Private companies shouldn't have this kind of power IMO.

[jjs 60]

On my way to the Sting/Paul Simon concert last week I saw a E60 fall off the tow truck, made a horrible noise and got a bit of an audience!

Towies are mongrels, only way to avoid them is to make sure you don't park where you shouldn't!

[gjm 3193]

Towies are mongrels, only way to avoid them is to make sure you don't park where you shouldn't!

But that doesn't work! I was towed when legally parked in a designated space!

That's a personal thing, of course, but I know I'm not alone.

It is a form of legalised theft.

[HSB 282]

It is a form of legalised theft.

No such thing exists - theft is defined in s 219 of the Crimes Act and the term theft, by its own definition, is an illegal act - you cannot have a legal illegal act if you get my drift.

What tow companies have is the capacity to "right a wrong". In other words they can move a car if it is somewhere it is not supposed to be (circumstances permitting etc etc). If they do not have the authority to "right the wrong" then they indeed act illegally.

The problem with the term theft is this part "intent to deprive any owner permanently of that property or of any interest in that property" - a tow company does not purport to deprive you permanently, rather you pay the fee and you get access to your car.

This is where the argument starts to go in circles, should you have to pay the fee, where they have had no ability to "right the wrong"? Of course the clear answer is no - and the building company has acknowledged this by paying the fee.

But the damage inflicted to the car.... well I have clear views on this which I will PM you OP.

[gjm 3193]

No such thing exists - theft is defined in s 219 of the Crimes Act and the term theft, by its own definition, is an illegal act - you cannot have a legal illegal act if you get my drift.

What tow companies have is the capacity to "right a wrong". In other words they can move a car if it is somewhere it is not supposed to be (circumstances permitting etc etc). If they do not have the authority to "right the wrong" then they indeed act illegally.

The problem with the term theft is this part "intent to deprive any owner permanently of that property or of any interest in that property" - a tow company does not purport to deprive you permanently, rather you pay the fee and you get access to your car.

This is where the argument starts to go in circles, should you have to pay the fee, where they have had no ability to "right the wrong"? Of course the clear answer is no - and the building company has acknowledged this by paying the fee.

But the damage inflicted to the car.... well I have clear views on this which I will PM you OP.

Agreed. I was being lazy with my terminology.

I don't know what statutes and requirements are in place for a towing company, but they don't seem to fussed about adhering to anything that might say 'check validity of parking before removing vehicle', for example. Of course, there's no profit in that.

[vtgts300kw 90]

Agreed. I was being lazy with my terminology.

I don't know what statutes and requirements are in place for a towing company, but they don't seem to fussed about adhering to anything that might say 'check validity of parking before removing vehicle', for example. Of course, there's no profit in that.

In my case, they did supposedly check the relevant permits, which they blatantly didn't. Their response to me was full of utter drivel and bullshit. It was clear they had no idea what they were doing in formulating their response.

[HSB 282]

Agreed. I was being lazy with my terminology.

I don't know what statutes and requirements are in place for a towing company, but they don't seem to fussed about adhering to anything that might say 'check validity of parking before removing vehicle', for example. Of course, there's no profit in that.

Don't be lazy

Land Transport Rule: Operator Licensing 2007

see: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/rules/docs/operator-licensing-consolidation.pdf

10.10 Restriction on moving of vehicles by vehicle recovery service

10.10(1) Subject to 10.10(2), a person may not move a vehicle using a vehicle recovery service vehicle unless the tow authority has been signed by:

a. a driver or a person claiming or appearing to be the owner of the vehicle, or a representative of the owner; or

b. an enforcement officer or parking warden; or

c. the owner or a representative of the owner of any land or a building, if the vehicle is being towed from his or her land or building that is not a road.

10.10(2) If a person listed in 10.10(1) is not available, the driver of the vehicle recovery service vehicle must record the name, address, and contact telephone number of the person who requested that the tow be undertaken.

So in vtgts' case the tow company will be relying on 10.10(1)(c.) representative of the building company, towing from land that is not a road. ....which appears factually problematic.