'They're a menace': London Towing Association supports by-law enforcement
The London Towing Association said it is pleased with the results of a recent city by-law blitz in the industry, but would have liked to see more action sooner.
"They're a menace," said Dwayne Cameron, the association's president, referring to the 12 companies hit with penalties under the city's towing regulations.
In total, 92 violations and 10 warnings were issued, and there are still pending business license suspensions, according to the city.
"One of the main complaints from first responders is the chaos at the accident scene because of the number of tow trucks that have arrived," said Orest Katolyk, the city's municipal compliance director.
"There's five, six, seven tow trucks there," explained Cameron. "They're blocking up the streets, blocking the road. They're just causing a nuisance."
Last year, the city introduced limits on towing fees, capping them at $275, but the investigation found multiple companies were charging well beyond that, or weren't able to provide adequate documentation to prove they were charging legal rates.
"We did a search of the invoices at accident scenes and identified numerous violations for tow charges from accident scenes, as well as impound charges," said Katolyk.
The city capped storage fees at $50 a day.
There has also been a series of violent incidents in the towing sector recently, which includes an arson investigation into burned vehicles, and gunshots fired at a tow truck by a rival company.
Tow trucks that were damaged in suspected arson are seen in London, Ont. on Nov. 14, 2022. (Jim Knight/CTV News London)
This enforcement blitz was planned "well before" those incidents, according to Katolyk.
Going forward, public and first responder feedback will dictate future bylaw action.
"It's largely complaint driven," said Kotalyk. "It's also very much data driven. So if we have a category that nobody is complaining about and everything is running smoothly, there's no cost benefit to doing a blitz."
There's no shortage of complaints in towing though, added Cameron, as customers are often targeted with price gouging tactics by companies that will lie about their options.
"We had an incident Saturday where they actually said that they were affiliated with us, and they weren't," said Cameron.
Cameron offered one final piece of advice to drivers.
"You have the right to choose whoever you want,” he said. “You don't have to use the first on scene. Call whoever you want."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING BMO clients face outages in Canada, U.S. following data centre fire alarm
Bank of Montreal clients on both sides of the border Thursday morning have reported outages with banking services. BMO said its technical team is investigating.
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
B.C. mortgage broker ran $270-million Ponzi scheme, then fled Canada, bankruptcy trustee says
The trustee appointed to manage the bankruptcies of a Victoria mortgage company and its owner has concluded that they committed "numerous offences" and operated as a "massive Ponzi scheme."
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
Want to turn off Meta AI? You can't - but there are some workarounds
If you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, you've probably noticed a new character pop up answering search queries or eagerly offering tidbits of information in your feeds, with varying degrees of accuracy.
opinion Trump's Republicans falling far behind in fundraising, infrastructure
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, Washington political analyst Eric Ham explains how and why Republicans -- up and down the ballot -- are falling far behind Democrats in both fundraising and infrastructure.
Canadians are eyeing moves to these cities for more affordable housing
Faced with elevated housing prices, half of Canadians in the country's largest cities are considering moving to places with more affordable housing.
Canadians' interest in buying EVs fades as barriers, concerns remain: J.D. Power
A new study finds fewer Canadians say they're interested in buying an electric vehicle as concerns remain about limited driving ranges, high prices and a lack of charging stations.
McDonald's says US$18 Big Mac meal was an 'exception' and their prices haven't risen that much
McDonald’s is fighting back against viral tweets and media reports that it says have exaggerated its price increases.