(Above, "terminated tow truck" which encountered a stolen car blowing through a red light)
Hunting through Flickr.com, I discovered a guy named "Tow Bot," a tow truck driver who takes pictures of the aftermath of accidents and tells the bloody tales.
His photos--though merely documentary and not artistic--are quite amazing, and you might get a kick out of his profile, but since I'm focused on ABUSIVE NON-CONSENT TOWING and not spectacular vehicular carnage, what really interested me was Tow Bot's commentary on certain abusive non-consent towing practices....
(Wow, it's my very first "expandable post!" OK, that was only exciting for ME)
According to ANOTHER Flickr.com user named "stenz," who took pictures of the incident, this is what happened in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"There (was) a tow truck sitting in a tow zone, waiting for the passenger to get sandwiches from (a restaurant called) Darwin's. During this time, a few cars pulled up behind it, also wanting to park in the tow zone, and there were some words exchanged and some honking.
The police man showed up--surely to fix it all--and some of the cars drove off, but the policeman was also just there for a sandwich at Darwin's.
It is a tow-away zone because it is where the bus is supposed to be able to pull over. A bus came while the tow truck was there, more confusion and honking. The bus just stopped in the middle of the street and let people off there.
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Tow Bot (the legend) commented as follows.
We have those type of tow truck drivers here, too. They will sit in a paid parking lot and wait for you to get out of your car to go and pay the automated machine. The smart people (or previously towed people) will drive right up to the ticket machine and get their tickets BEFORE they park.
The unsuspecting ones will drive into a stall, then walk to the machine. That's when the wrecker will swoop in and grab the car before the person gets back. And then the tow truck driver will say you got towed 'cause you didn't have a ticket!!
I have no respect for guys like that. Get off your (expletive) and earn your money.
2 comments:
I've been called a lot of things but "Legend" wasn't one of them, at least in a good way...
I sympathize with anybody who's been ripped, gyped or plain old stripped by a tow truck driver.
The business is a hard one to make a good name for yourself, much less keep it. Trying to please everyone at the same time is also an almost impossiability, but I like to try.
I go out every night before sunset and come back home after the sun is up. Sometimes I'm a hero, sometimes I'm not, but if you're in troubble on the highway at 3 am, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm gonna perform a modern day miracle just to get you home.
-towbot-
Hey, Towbot, I saw you just got a blogger.com profile. I was going to say how your photos and the stories behind the photos really cry out for a blog, and not just posting the photos on Flickr.com.
(Though that's good, too)
If you've got more stories of abuses in the towing industry, here is the place to share 'em. And those stories mean even more, coming from somebody like yourself who is actually in the industry.
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