American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
Navigating the Future of Towing: Electric Vehicles, Industry Consolidation, and Combating Predatory Practices
Ever wondered how the towing industry is adapting to the rise of electric vehicles and alternative fuels? Join us as we uncover the secrets behind a successful training session led by industry experts April and Wes Wilburn, alongside DJ Harrington. Hosted at the Fayetteville City Police Department’s advanced facility, this event drew 48 eager participants ready to learn the latest techniques and insights. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Phillips Towing for their unparalleled hospitality and to the Fayetteville City Police Department for their support during an action-packed weekend.
Delve into the world of industry consolidation with us, where strategic acquisitions are transforming towing operations across the nation. We bring you stories from leaders like Fred from Valor Fleet Services and Jose from Big Valley, as they share their strategies for growth and the positive impacts on employee conditions. Learn about JNI’s expansion through acquiring Bald Eagle Towing in Florida and Cantrell’s new ventures in Illinois, and get the scoop on the upcoming Florida show offering cutting-edge training opportunities.
Finally, tackle the critical issue of predatory towing practices with Gary Leach, president of the Towing and Recovery Association of Alberta, and Jeff Kasbrick from the Alberta Motor Association. Discover how these organizations are fighting back with education campaigns and proposed legislative changes to protect drivers in Alberta. From the introduction of Troy's Law in Kentucky to proposed tweaks in Alabama’s notification laws, we discuss the legislative efforts reshaping the industry for safer roads. Don’t miss out on these crucial conversations that are shaping the future of towing.
you're on the train to success with april and wes wilburn. I'm dj harrington, the co-host, better known as the toe doctor. We're all on our way to the town of proper towing and recovery, along with our producer, chuck camp, in the studio. Don't go to the town of woulda, coulda, shoulda. You coulda had done this. You should have done that. Listen every week to thought-provoking wisdom from great guests. So if you have Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia or the number one podcast, or maybe Amazon or wherever you get your podcasts, turn in on Wednesday and be turned on all week long. If you are a state association and want your announcements or upcoming state association news announcements or upcoming state association news or maybe a co-show that's coming up, let us know. Our podcast studio phone number is 706-409-5603. I'm proud to be part of a great team at the american dorm recovery institute. Let's make 2025 our best year ever. I will turn it to April and less.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, dj. I certainly appreciate, as always, the kind words. Happy to be here this week. How you doing? How's the weather down there?
Speaker 1:It is rainy ugly, overcast, the weather bad here and in the studio where Chuck is. It's really bad.
Speaker 2:What's going on there? I thought y'all lived relatively close. How's the weather so different?
Speaker 1:It's raining heavy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it's cold here, too Cold. It's not raining right now, but we've had cold, nasty weather too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had about a day and a half of 37 in rain, and there's nothing more miserable than that, that cold rain, that's what's happened?
Speaker 1:We're wearing our overcoats and we're happy to be doing the podcast with you, buddy.
Speaker 2:Well, we're happy too, I tell you. We lucked into a real good weather day on Saturday. It wasn't super warm, but it wasn't rainy or anything. It was like 60-some degrees. We started the first class of the training season. This starts my 32nd year as a trainer. This was my 951st class and you know how sometimes you surprise yourself, dj. I surprised myself with a couple things this weekend.
Speaker 2:Now, phillips Towing hosted the class, which he's always been a great host and personally the company and him personally have been very good to me, helping keep me going in this quest to provide training for the towing industry. So he's always been first class when he's done things with me. And when we've hosted classes in the past we've done them at a couple different fire departments in the county and that was years ago and those relationships were good. One of the fire departments we did it in the county, believe it or not, got wiped out during the flooding of the hurricane a couple years ago. So choices were a little bit less. So he agreed to do this class that we had coming up and we're going to do it in his facility, which he has a beautiful facility. And then, as the class got a little bigger and a little bigger. He decided that we needed a professional meeting room, so he made arrangements with the Fayetteville City Police Department, who's just a few blocks away from them probably 10 or 12 blocks, just a little bit further than someone like me would want to walk, but they're relatively close and we used this meeting room DJ in the police department.
Speaker 2:That's one of the nicest, well-thought-out meeting rooms that I've been in. It wasn't the fanciest I've kind of been in fancier ones but this was the most practical. They had 10 TVs at least 10 TVs all over. They had a big screen up front with a small stage and a little podium to work off of, and then they had TVs everywhere. So no matter where you sat in the room, you weren't more than six or eight feet from the TV so you could see the videos, hear the sound. It was just excellent. I can't tell you how good it was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was really state-of-the-art facility that we were in.
Speaker 2:And we had 50 people. So we rearranged the tables and made a big U with a couple of rows inside of the U, and it really worked out well. We had a rock and roll class 48, how many?
Speaker 3:48 attendees yep 48 attendees.
Speaker 2:So that was the first class of the year that, emotionally, I tell you, gives you a big charge. We rearranged the class. You know I've talked about this before. I struggle at the beginning of each year trying to make sure I'm staying relevant. Am I still relevant? Is the question I asked myself. So we rearranged it.
Speaker 2:We made electric vehicle like excuse me, we made electric and alternative vehicle fuel vehicles, of focus more, which we've been teaching about them in every class for a couple years. But we made it more of a focus um kind of geared a lot of the overheads and stuff to the YouTube generation and the short attention span and the click, click, click on TikTok. So we were able to cover a lot more slides by doing it in that format and that's what people seem to want. Everybody's attention span seems to be shortening up and shortening up. So with the new format, everybody was really happy with it. Attention span seems to be shortening up and shortening up. So with the new format, everybody was really happy with it.
Speaker 2:We got good reviews, had a great well, first of all, the hospitality Phillips provided, besides getting us a state-of-the-art classroom. And let me back up we need to give some shout-out to the Fayetteville City Police Department. It's like any other city police department Resources are limited and even though it's a city department, it's big. For this part of the world it's not a huge organization. So some people came in on Saturday to make it happen. They also had the Martin Luther King parade that had been postponed. That's what it was right.
Speaker 3:MLK parade. Yeah, they postponed that due to weather.
Speaker 2:Due to weather a couple weeks ago, so that was running on the Saturday morning at the same time, which that creates a big, huge footprint of us. You know that the Fayetteville City Police have to look after and help handle, so they geared themselves up to that, geared themselves up to make sure they had staffing to accommodate us, and they just couldn't have treated us any better, could they have?
Speaker 3:No, they couldn't have treated us any better. And not only was that parade going on at the same time and they would have had to facilitate that but the proximity it was right there. That thing was right there at the same time and they still navigated and got through it and made that spot for us made arrangements where there's a parking lot.
Speaker 2:The people came in, tow trucks could park just to, you know. Basically across the street it's just a short walk. Everybody else in automobiles the parking lot was right there made Made sure they had a door open on the building where we could get in and out, went out of their way to help us and it was a great. That part was great. A couple of the officers sat in on most of the training. Phillip, you know, if you've ever been around him at an event, if you go away hungry, it's your fault because they definitely fed everybody well, they around him at an event. If you go away hungry, it's your fault, because they definitely fed everybody well. They had uh stuff in the morning drinks and some you know knickknacks in the morning and then a great lunch. Had a cook over there cooking the lunch, chicken and had rice and salad nice, healthy option. I really like seeing that. Winnie there at phillips knocked it out of the park on that stuff. Which winnie we got. To give her credit. She took care of every single detail from every angle.
Speaker 3:She sure did.
Speaker 2:She was wonderful to work with.
Speaker 3:Not only did they have the healthy option of the salad, but that pound cake they had oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:Well, that pound cake wasn't healthy. Is that what you're?
Speaker 3:trying to tell me Well, the pound is butter. That's the butter. They just had everything.
Speaker 2:They. That's the butter. They just had everything. They really did a great job. Then for the hands on, we had a piece of street which doesn't sound like much, but I wasn't pointing on the ground, saying guys, pretend the concrete barriers there and pretend the highway lanes here. We were working on and in the street with painted lanes, curb and gutter. So when we talked about taking up one lane of traffic, we could visualize taking up one lane of traffic. We could visualize taking up one lane of traffic. So that was awesome as well.
Speaker 3:That was almost a made-to-order kind of a training day, wasn't it, Wes?
Speaker 2:It was, it really was and, like I say, phillip's always been top-notch, but he went out of his way. Let me say went out of his way to make this just first class.
Speaker 3:And then you also had Nick from New Jersey down to help.
Speaker 2:We did, we did. Nick came down and added a big part to it. And you know one thing, that's a little, and I don't want to shortcut Nick because he definitely came down and added a lot. He always does. He's stepping into the role more and more to help get these classes done. He does it from a place where he's not big-headed, he he does it from a place where he's not big-headed. He's just there helping get the program done. And without people like that you can't get these classes done, because you get a bunch of guys there. If somebody isn't helping me keep order, then we're burning time not getting things done. And we got every exercise we wanted to get done, plus one. So I can't thank Nick enough. He really appreciated everything he did, had Phillip there with equipment, had quality towing.
Speaker 4:Sumner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how wide center truck. We used that as well. The class themselves, a lot of students I've seen before Johnny and his brother and a whole lot of people I shouldn't start naming names because then you forget something but a whole lot of people. The Rockwells were there. They came with the right. But a whole lot of people, the Rockwells were there, they came with the right attitude. A lot of information was shared, a lot of networking happened. We presented them with a new condensed kind of streamlined version of the electric vehicle. Most of the class actually took part in the electric vehicle certification program that we're doing now through the NTAC program. So we're excited about that, that we got some people involved in that.
Speaker 3:So NTAC, just to let people who may not be familiar with that, that stands for National Tow Operator Certification and that's an online Zoom-like type test.
Speaker 2:That we offer. I don't do a good job of talking about things like that. Thank you, April. Also, I don't do a good job of bragging on ourselves, but I probably ought to do that a little bit more. As of today, our number for our podcast download 17,000, even Exactly 17,000, as of today. That's exciting, isn't it? Dj? It's excellent.
Speaker 1:It's excellent Anytime you tell somebody you're over 10,000, everybody at iHeartMedia and so forth takes notice. When you're up to 17,000, everybody's watching.
Speaker 2:Well, we certainly appreciate you folks that have made it happen. Like and share and subscribe. We appreciate that. We're on YouTube we don't have any kind of following yet on that, but we're working on that. Also, facebook, instagram, like us, friend us, all that stuff. Here's something exciting too. The research team, dj, has been hard at work on the app, the electric slash alternate fuel app that we have, ev Clever. Ev Clever, yes, can be found in your Google Apple store.
Speaker 2:Number of cars this is year make model cars 2,948, almost 3,000. Just over 2,000 heavy-duty vehicles, buses and trucks, et cetera. And then also we have over 1,500 scooters all the factory information on them. So this team here I'm going to brag on them. They've been working hard and we appreciate it making things happen. So that's what's going on here.
Speaker 2:Now here's an update from a story we covered last week on Towing News. Now A Douglas County, kansas, jury on Friday found a towing company and its employee more than 50% responsible for a woman's death in a 2020 incident and awarded more than $4 million in damages, although an attorney familiar with the case said the amount the plaintiff could ultimately receive would likely be much lower than that. The trial lasted about a week and attorneys for the employee and the towing company presented their arguments about who was responsible in the deadly incident in which the car owner was crushed under a car while preparing to have it towed. The jury on Friday, after about seven hours of deliberation, sided with the family, determining that the tow company and the operator bore 51% of the responsibility for the accident between them, vanetta and Hillcrat, and it assigned different percentages 18% to the operator, 33% to the company and then the person that died. They bore 49% of the responsibility 49% of the responsibility.
Speaker 3:So her mother was quoted as saying that they got justice for Lindsay after the verdict was read. As the Journal World had reported, Vanetta had testified that Rain's car was disabled and sitting on wooden blocks in Rain's driveway. When Vanetta arrived, Vanetta said when she was getting her truck into position, Rain started rocking the car and it broke free and rolled down the driveway and over Rain. Now Vanetta says that she had told Rain to please, you know, to remove herself from the situation, and she did not do it. And in this situation, what do you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're on somebody's property. They go over and start messing with their car, racking it back and forth. You can tell them to stop, all you want. She's putting the truck in position, so she's not right there, but they're on their property messing with it. I just don't understand how the responsibility was assigned here. It does not seem accurate and fair to me at all, Although my father taught me at a very young age life's not fair and sometimes that's a lesson you've got to learn. But I just don't think this is fair at all.
Speaker 3:Life is not fair. Yeah, I don't know how they came up with that math.
Speaker 2:You know they've got some other funny math here too that you only have to convince 10 out of the 12 jurors in a civil suit in that state.
Speaker 3:So Also anybody who's listening and would like to contact us or call us. I would like to know, in these situations, what do you guys do? In these situations, when the person is assisting someone staying with the car, how do you handle it? It's probably a case-by-case basis, I'm sure.
Speaker 2:The jury award was $4.5 million and they broke down all the percentages of the money. It also talks about a state law that caps one of the payments.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the one payment is supposed to be $3.8 million in non-economic losses. I don't know what that exactly means, but the state law in Kansas caps that actual amount of non-economic damages to be $250,000. So they have to hash that out in a separate hearing, I guess.
Speaker 2:That's all from the newsroom.
Speaker 6:From Towing News. Now here's our 2025 training schedule. On March 7th, we have a two-hour EV session at Opelika Alabama, and on the 8th and 9th we have a two-day heavy-duty rotator in Opelika Alabama.
Speaker 3:And then just one thing to add with that, that's a CP wrecker and that's also with Griffin Griffin Towing. They're in conjunction with that.
Speaker 6:Next in March on the 21st at Liberty Towing, we'll have a two-hour EV in Morganton, north Carolina, and on the 22nd 23rd that's Saturday and Sunday at Liberty Towing, we will have a two-day heavy duty with rotator.
Speaker 3:Now we're going to April. On April the 4th we have a two-hour EV course at All-County Towing in Long Island, new York, and then on Friday, saturday the 5th, also at all-county towing, we have a one-day advanced level light duty, and then on the 6th we have a one-day advanced level heavy duty course.
Speaker 6:Now, on April 10th through the 12th, it's the Florida Tow Show in Orlando at the Host Hotel in Hilton Orlando. To make a reservation, call 855-757-7984 and use code REK. On April 10th at the Florida Toll Show we'll have a full-day heavy-duty recovery course and on the 11th is the Orlando Florida Tunnels Tower event with DJ Harrington. On April the 22nd to the 24th that's a Tuesday, wednesday and Thursday we'll have an EV class.
Speaker 3:So those are actually three one-day classes Wesley, and then the cities will be determined, and as soon as we get that information we will update that schedule. Then in May, on May 16th, we have a one-day light-duty course at Cardinal Towing in St Louis, missouri, and then we have a two-day heavy-duty rotator at Cardinal Towing in St Louis.
Speaker 6:And then on the 19th and 20th, which is a Monday, and Tuesday, we have a two-day advanced-level heavy-duty course in St Louis at Cardinal Towing. And June, from the 6th to the 8th, it's the Astra Toll Show in Lake George, New York. On the 6th we'll be hosting a live auction for the toll show. On the 20th we'll have a light duty course one day at Star 24--hour Towing in Medford, Oregon. On the 21st and 22nd in Medford, Oregon, we'll have a two-day heavy duty whiff rotator course.
Speaker 3:And then in October October 3rd through the 5th Friday, saturday and Sunday is a three-day heavy duty extreme advanced level class in the Buffalo, niagara Falls area.
Speaker 2:Hope to see you at one of those cities. Hang around real quick, we'll be right back after the break.
Speaker 3:For electric and other alternative fuel vehicles. We have developed an app that gives you all the manufacturers 411 for when that 911 happens. Whether you are a fire tow or police, we got you covered. To find the EV Clever app, go to your Apple or Google Play store for a 30-day free trial.
Speaker 6:We also offer the National Tow Operator Certification an independently sourced virtual testing program covering light duty, heavy duty, electric and alternative fuel.
Speaker 7:Vehicle Information in this podcast is made possible by generous sponsorship from Henry's Record light duty, heavy duty, electric and alternative fuel vehicle Information in this podcast is made possible by generous sponsorship from Henry's Wrecker, serving the community with quality towing and recovery for over 40 years. Henryswreckercom.
Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. You know you're listening to the number one towing podcast, Towing News Channel, and this is real important podcast, towing News Channel, and this is real important. This is season four, episode six, and you're not going to believe how well we're doing. Thanks to all of you 17,000 listeners. Now I want to remind all of you. We're available on Spotify, itunes, andorra, skature the number one iHeartMedia, amazon or wherever you get your podcasts. So we have a new one for this episode. It's called Consolidation Corner and I'll pass it on over to our number one guy, wes Wilburn.
Speaker 2:Thank you, dj. This is a new segment. I can't say it will be weekly because it's going to be based on when we have news of what's going on with consolidation and within the towing industry. You know, consolidation is not just only happening in towing, it's happening in a lot of industries. We've had a couple different episodes. We've had what Fred from Henry's on released twice talking about consolidation. Haven't we April?
Speaker 2:Yeah and we've also had Jose from Big Valley yeah, big Valley First Line Road Solutions, of course. Fred is with Henry's Roadrunner in Windsor, which is now Valor Fleet Services. Fred's been a huge supporter, been on the podcast several times, talked in depth about what they're doing, talked about kind of their blueprint of how they do things. Then we had Jose from Big Valley a couple weeks ago talking about what First Line Road Solutions is doing. So I think JT when he was here, of course JT Reisner who helps me with training. I think he talked a little bit about what they're doing, but we're going to have somebody on from their organization. So Jay and I they're a great group of folks who we're working with training in that part of the country. Not only is JT helping but they're hosting. We're doing a big event with them in St Louis in May. They have acquired Bald Eagle Towing down in Naples, florida, first out-of-state venture like that, that far away from their core. But they're serious consolidators looking to do things. So we give them congratulations on that.
Speaker 2:Also, a new organization. I don't know that I've paid much attention or heard of them before. I believe this is a towing company using their own capital, where some of these other organizations are using others' capital you know equity capital, that kind of thing to grow. But Cantrell Towing, out of Illinois, they bought Quad City Towing, which this is like their third or fourth expansion, where they're expanding their footprint to increase their service area, make things a little bit better for their, their client base. So they required Quad City's Towing.
Speaker 2:One of the things they talk about in their acquisition plans is they're keeping the companies, the name the same, the locations the same, just spreading out on their footprint. So we wish them the best of luck as well. We're going to definitely have some more people on talking about consolidation. If you're a consolidator listening to this, we really want to get you on here and have you come, talk about what you're doing and introduce yourself. There's a couple of y'all that I kind of know that I'm going to start trying to pester, I guess, a little bit to get you to come on and talk to us. So we hope to have more information on this consolidation corner in the future.
Speaker 3:So the one thing that I've observed about these consolidators is that when they come in and they buy something, it seems like they're trying to improve. They're a bottom line, obviously, because everybody wants to make a profit, but when they buy these businesses, they're also trying to improve the business. So it's not like they're coming in and gutting out and just making pure profit. They're also improving the circumstances of the employees. That's what it seems like to me. What do you think, wes?
Speaker 2:That's definitely one of the reasons I'm supportive of most of them that I've seen. They're looking at making it more of a formalized career, formalized business, and, as everybody knows, I come from an operator background that was able to work their way up, background that was able to work their way up. But I think that's in the best interest of the industry, is to create a more career-oriented path, and that's one of the things I like about JNI that they've done many things internally in their organization to do that.
Speaker 3:And you have to admit Wes the biggest competition of jobs in the towing industry is the trucking industry.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 3:And making a consolidated effort, like they're trying to do, is giving better benefits and better pay and better quality of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, better hours, Absolutely, Absolutely. So we wish Jay and I all the best luck with their purchase of Bald Eagle down in Naples. Nice part of Florida it really is. I think they'll do well down there. Also, while we're talking about Florida, I don't want folks to forget if you're coming to the Florida show, come in on that Thursday, or actually they have to travel on the Wednesday. What's the date of that Thursday?
Speaker 3:It's the 10th April, the 10th.
Speaker 2:April, the 10th, we'll be doing a free one-day heavy-duty towing and recovery seminar at Florida. Most of it will be inside, be a little bit of hands-on outside. When I say hands-on it really won't even be hands-on, we'll be a little bit of outside activity. They're going to try to get some alternative and or electric heavy trucks for for us, buses etc for us to hook on to. So we're going to try to focus on that type of stuff. But it's a free one day of training. There'll be a breakfast, a light continental breakfast sponsored by purpose, and the class itself is sponsored by us, the american toe and recovery Institute, in partnership with Professional Record Operators of Florida, who are the organization that's hosting the show. It's the world's largest toe show. It used to be. That's where all the new products were kind of exposed for the year. I don't know if they stick with that as much or not, but definitely if there's something new that's come out over the winter you'll see it there.
Speaker 2:It's the best place because it's the first real event of the year, the first big event of the year that's right and and also another reason it's, uh, very popular is what's wrong with being in april in april, right?
Speaker 3:in florida in april nothing except for spring breaks that's a little bit of a traffic, but besides that it's a good place to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is a challenge. That is a little bit of a challenge, but it is nice to be there in that time of year. We're looking forward to it. We're thankful to the professional wrecker operators of Florida, pwof, for this opportunity to be there and work with them and their commitment to their members and attendees to bring quality education for free. That's one of the things about their show the events they'll feed you, the evening event where there's like a street party, there's food and drink and beverage and everything's free. Now, going to the gift shop or the coffee shop in the hotel, that's a little bit different situation. You're talking about a Hilton Hotel in a very pricey neighborhood. Is it on the grounds at Disney or it's next?
Speaker 3:to the grounds. It's next to Disney Springs.
Speaker 2:You could walk to.
Speaker 3:Disney Springs from that hotel.
Speaker 2:But you also catch a shuttle If you're going to Disney and stuff, boy, I sound old, the Disney, yeah, if you're going to Disney, there's a bus though that you can go right there, yep. And the host hotel we really recommend because it's a challenge to get on and off that property during showtime.
Speaker 3:So the host hotel is the Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace. The number to call to make a reservation is 855-757-4984. And the code is R-E-K.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can go to the as a matter of fact if you want to take the class, and also links to the hotel is going to their website. Pwoforg is the one that I remember. I think Florida Show also.
Speaker 3:So there's another one called FloridaToeShowcom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, FloridaToeShowcom.
Speaker 3:It can get more simple than that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and PWOForg is another one that has a link to take you to it. Register for the show. You don't want to be standing there in the line getting get that ID badge. They do control entrance to the show. They're real nice and polite about it, but you do have to have a badge. It's so simple to go in there, fill it out ahead of time. The line to get those badges seems to move a whole lot quicker than the line to get badges made.
Speaker 3:I've stood in that line to get the badges made. It's a long line to be into because it's a very popular event. And then the process of getting the. You know it's simple, here's your information, but it still takes some time.
Speaker 2:But if you want to attend that free day of training, spend all day with us. It'll be me and JT down there. Depending on class size, we might bring someone else. Attend that free day of training. Spend all day with us. It'll be me and JT down there. Depending on class size, we might bring someone else. But we'll be down there ready on Thursday. You said April 11th.
Speaker 3:April the 10th. The 11th is the Tunnels to Towers.
Speaker 2:That's right, so we're looking forward to that as well. We've got some great information for you after the break. Just hang around, we'll be right back.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. You know you're listening to the number one podcast, Towing News Channel, and our biggest episode, Towing News Now, and I want to thank all of you. Please remember to like, review and share everywhere, Just like Wes said. We can't thank you enough for growing this podcast so much. If there's an expert or you belong to an association that wants your information on this podcast, dial the studio's number. The studio number is 706-409-5603. 706-409-5603. 706-409-5603. Without further ado, back to the number one program, Towing News Channel, and Wes Wilburn and April Wilburn. I'm passing it back over to you, my friend.
Speaker 2:Thanks, DJ.
Speaker 6:This is Wesley Wilburn at Towing News. Now here's an update on Kentucky's Troy's Law House Bill 115, which allows tow trucks to use blue lights. This bill has been assigned to the House Transportation Committee as of now.
Speaker 9:And as that snow blanketed the region today, tow truck operators no doubt rescued dozens of stranded motorists. At the same time, our, gil McClanahan says, kentucky lawmakers are in Frankfurt. They're considering a bill to give tow truck operators another layer of protection while doing this important job.
Speaker 10:Winter is a busy time for the towing industry. With the increase in calls comes an increased chance of being injured while on the job. Imagine if you will trying to load a broken down vehicle only a few feet from the interstate when a tractor trailer speeds by a little too close for comfort.
Speaker 8:You're sitting at your desk at your office and a car goes 75 to 80 miles an hour past the front of your desk, where you put your pens or your paper. That's where we're working.
Speaker 10:Hospital 115 would allow tow trucks in Kentucky to have blue lights similar to these to alert motorists to slow down. This is merely a safety issue.
Speaker 11:Yes, sir, it sure is. They feel like the blue lights will give attention to the drivers or they'll respect the blue lights.
Speaker 10:Representative Richard White of Moorhead is the sponsor of the bill.
Speaker 11:They're not allowed to use the blue lights when they're moving, only when they're stationary.
Speaker 8:I do feel that it would make us feel a little more comfortable.
Speaker 10:The bill is called Troy's Law, named for Troy Caldwell, a tow truck operator who died last September trying to load a vehicle on I-64.
Speaker 8:Whenever Troy was hit in Bath County and killed, it was a real eye-opener that this doesn't just happen in the big city. This is right down the street. This is 50 miles from our office.
Speaker 10:The bill has been assigned to the House Transportation Committee in Carter County, Kentucky. Gil McClanahan, Eyewitness News.
Speaker 6:With this winter weather causing high demand for tow truck, we see the need for this bill to be passed.
Speaker 2:We've got this story coming to us out of Alabama about towing. There's a state representative down there that's proposed legislation that's going to require tow truck drivers to ready dump, drum roll report vehicles immediately after towing them. Currently, a person that is in possession of an unclaimed vehicle is required to report the vehicle to the Department of Revenue's unclaimed vehicle portal within five calendar days after the vehicle was considered unclaimed. According to the law's text so in other words, a vehicle that's removed from private property situation the only reporting requirement is five days. I was a little surprised at that. Back in the day, when I worked in Virginia in the 80s, the requirement was immediately. I think they even clarify that more with a time restriction. Nowadays I'm not there anymore, but I think the time restriction is actually within 30 minutes, but it used to be immediately or something to that effect.
Speaker 3:To me it's crazy that it would take you five days. In today's modern technology era that we live in, where everything is instantaneous, it's amazing to me that you would need five days. And why wouldn't it be? Within the hour Somebody's looking for their car, even if they didn't think it was stolen. I know it was towed because I parked it where I shouldn't park it at. You've got to call all these tow companies to figure out where your car is at.
Speaker 2:Of course, if you're doing this type of work and you're doing it in a respectable manner, there should be good signage at the parking lot that should indicate how to get your car. But a lot of times people leave that parking lot without their car. Don't see that sign, don't pay attention to it. I'm not making excuses, I'm just reporting reality that it does seem a little challenging that in this day and age there isn't a way to find that car quicker and whatnot.
Speaker 3:Well, everybody should do something. They should know the sign, but the company who towed the car should report it much sooner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the things that would concern me, just from being a John Q Citizen standpoint of it all how much time is wasted by the police chasing stolen vehicle reports that aren't actually stolen? Uh, our officers in blue have enough things to do, so there's a requirement now that, uh, the uh, that reporting be done, and I hope that happens. I think that only makes common sense. The rest of the story gets into how the company that's doing most of the towing I guess what it owns- so there's a parking lot owned by, so in addition to PES, which is Parking Enforcement System.
Speaker 3:So in addition to that, the suit names downtown lot owner Robert Crook and his business group, CRC, contending they violate the law due to having a monetary interest in PES by owning the tow lot company.
Speaker 2:They're a lot, though they don't own the company, right. Yeah, so they're the landlord is how I read it. Yeah, is that what it is there, aprilil, I'm trying to look for it yeah, it says in addition to ps.
Speaker 3:The suit names downtown lot owner robert crook and his business group, zero c, contending they violate the law due to having a monetary interest in ps by owning the tow lot the company operates on.
Speaker 2:So they own real estate and what it appears is they're renting that real estate to the tow company and the tow company's storing cars that they're removing from their property. So that's a very gray area. One of the issues will be that there's probably very few choices who actually owns property that you can do something like. That will be that there's probably very few choices who actually owns property that you can do something like that.
Speaker 3:All doubt would be removed if they mandated quicker reporting times for when the cars picked up.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's two separate issues actually.
Speaker 3:It is two separate, but we probably wouldn't know about the second issue if there wasn't a first issue.
Speaker 2:Well, that's true, that is true. Issue if there wasn't a first issue? Well, that's true, that is true, and the first issue is very easily solved and sounds like it will be. While we're talking about private property type towing, there's also something going on in Virginia that could slightly help the towing industry. It looks like it's a long overdue rate increase.
Speaker 3:It says, this legislation preserves all consumer protections and all local regulatory authority. The measure also extends a provision allowing towing operators to charge a fuel surcharge fee in areas where local governments have set regulations. If localities have not reviewed their towing fee structure by December 31st, the legislation encourages them to do so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it basically takes the state-allowed rate for that type of towing the base rate. Anyway, there's a couple add-ons as well, but it goes from $135, $135 up to $210. So that's a positive thing. That sounds like a very long overdue rate increase.
Speaker 3:Very overdue.
Speaker 2:So we're happy to see that as well. Remember, folks, when you're dealing with private property towing and whatnot the tow company that people want to blame for the problem is not the problem. It's the real estate developers zoning, et cetera that allow the properties to be used where there's an overflow of parking not an overflow, not enough parking that causes an overflow onto other people's property. Property ownership rights is one of the foundations this country is built on, and people that own property have a right to have it patrolled and towed. Just if you're doing that, do it professionally. And here's another story out of Virginia about private property telling this story comes out of the southeastern part of the state instead of the northern part of Virginia.
Speaker 13:I'm at the Walmart in Portsmouth off of Frederick Boulevard. You might remember I was here two months ago when folks were complaining about towing practices in the parking lot. One of many frustrated disabled drivers, joanne Ramseyer, spoke to me on the phone last December. Drivers. Joanne Ramseyer spoke to me on the phone last December. She said Always Swift Towing Company, which was contracted with Walmart to work the lot, towed our car and wanted $300 cash.
Speaker 5:He said you didn't have a placard. I said, no, I don't have a placard, but I have handicapped license plates. And he said, oh, you were parked in the fire zone. I said no, I wasn't, I was parked in the handicapped space. I haven't heard anybody else being towed except for senior citizens.
Speaker 13:That's when I went by Always Swift Towing and talked to a spokesperson who said they towed folks who parked illegally. She was over the line.
Speaker 2:She was crooked on our sideways, our foot.
Speaker 13:A Walmart spokesperson confirmed at the time the store was working to end the towing contract. Now I'm back at Always Swift Towing's door to check in. We're with Channel 3. I think we talked to you guys a few months ago about towing out of Walmart and we were just trying to follow up and see if you guys are still towing there. No, you're not. No, the contract appears to be up. I'm waiting on a response from Walmart to see if they're using another towing company instead. And now I'm hearing that some of those people who raised concerns got their money back. Walmart, according to Joanne's daughter, reimbursed some towing fees, including theirs. The outcome has been a relief for some Walmart employees too, who mentioned they've seen fewer people upset with them. In the time I've been here I have not seen anyone getting towed, but we have seen security going up and down the aisles In Fort Smith. Erica Craven, wtkr, news 3.
Speaker 12:Good morning. Welcome to Calgary, Close Up where every Saturday we take a deeper dive into an issue making news in our city this past week or in the week ahead. And today we're focused on a decision that could impact what happens at vehicle crash sites in the future. Here in Calgary On Thursday, a city committee approved changes aimed at stopping predatory tow truck behavior. The measure will now go before city council as a whole for approval. Behavior the measure will now go before city council as a whole for approval. If passed, tow truck operators will not be allowed within 200 meters of a crash scene until they are requested or invited. Violators could face a fine of $10,000. And the city says it's heard of towing fees from predatory operators that are 11 times higher than the industry average.
Speaker 4:When you've been in an accident. Your car's been either hit or you're on the side of the road. You're in a very vulnerable position. It's time to kind of turn around and say I want somebody to come help me.
Speaker 12:I don't want somebody to come rip me off Makes sense to me. Gary Leach is the president of the Towing and Recovery Association of Alberta. Jeff Kasbrick is the VP of Advocacy and Operations with the Alberta Motor Association. Thank you both for joining us today to talk more about these proposed rule changes.
Speaker 4:Good morning.
Speaker 12:Good morning. Thanks for having us, Gary. I want to start with you, because a lot of us simply just have not been in collisions lately or for some time. What exactly is happening out there right now that's prompted all of this?
Speaker 14:What appears to be happening, Joel, is these unscrupulous operators and companies are migrating to the Alberta region from Ontario. So this has been a longstanding problem in Ontario that the Ontario government cracked down on and basically has forced these people out of the province for lack of a better term, and so they've selected Alberta for their new hunting grounds. They want to be in a large metropolitan area where there's a vehicle density that obviously will give them more volume to select from, and Manitoba, Saskatchewan and BC are not appropriate because they have government insurance that regulates very clearly that only contracted companies can remove those vehicles. So really, Alberta was the only place they could go. That's left with private insurance. Going east, there's no real large metropolitan areas that they could prey upon.
Speaker 12:So essentially are they just roaming around out there, gary, and then showing up at these crash sites and saying hey, okay, I'll take your car.
Speaker 14:I'll take your car right now, absolutely. I'm not sure in calgary if they're doing it, but for example, in edmonton they actually are monitoring the radio frequencies of the edmonton fire department. They're actually staging their trucks outside or very near a fire hall and they literally follow the fire apparatus to a scene. Wow, I personally with I personally witnessed last summer in edmonton um a crash that occurred and a fire truck rolled up to the scene followed by a tow truck that literally was almost touching the back bumper of the fire truck that's, that's.
Speaker 14:Yeah, they're absolutely obstructing first responders in dealing with, you know the emergency situation and possible casualties.
Speaker 12:Jeff, I want to ask you, because AMA launched Know Before the Tow, a province-wide awareness campaign back in December, was it hearing these reports that prompted that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely, as Gary is referring to, you know, we've really seen an increase in predatory towing practices in the province.
Speaker 4:Really that came to a head in 2024.
Speaker 4:And to the point where we're actually beginning to hear from our members and from Albertans that this is happening on a near daily basis, that someone in the province, particularly within Edmonton or Calgary, are experiencing some of these practices. And maybe, just to put a bit of a point on what the actual experience and the practices are, we are talking about circumstances where these predatory towing operators, which are really just individual operators they are not reputable companies by any means apply the greatest amount of pressure tactics, try and create the greatest amount of urgency that an Albertan who is broken down on the side of the road or, more likely, involved in a collision, must immediately utilize their services. And that's just simply not the case. And so we wanted to launch an education campaign to make Albertans aware of their rights when it is that they find themselves broken down on the side of the road or, unfortunately, maybe in a collision, and to know those rights before that actually occurs, because that's a high stress situation enough that we really want to equip and empower them with that information beforehand.
Speaker 12:Just got time for one, maybe one, jeff, one thing that you found that maybe Albertans didn't know, that they need to know when it comes to this.
Speaker 4:Well, I think, first and foremost, the core message is you do not have to take the pressure tactics of a predatory towing operator. You are able to choose who it is that you want to tow your vehicle, unless otherwise directed by the police. But of course, then you have that trust in that situation and so if you ever find that you have those pressure tactics or these unethical behaviors being hoisted upon you, you can actually push back as an Albertan, and you're well within your rights to do so.
Speaker 12:Okay, gary Leach from the Towing and Recovery Association of Alberta and Jeff Kasbrick from the AMA Standby when we come back in a little bit. I want to ask you about this specific bylaw and if you think the changes are strong enough. Hey, good morning. Welcome to Calgary Close-Up, where every Saturday we take a deeper dive into an issue that either made news this past week or will in the week ahead, and today we're focused on a decision that could impact what happens at vehicle crash sites here in Calgary in the future. On Thursday, a city committee approved changes aimed at stopping predatory tow truck behavior. The measure will now go before city council, who will vote on it as a whole for approval. If passed, tow truck operators will not be allowed within 200 meters of a crash scene until they are requested or invited, and violators could face a fine of $10,000. It's all because city officials say it's heard of towing fees from predatory operators that are 11 times higher than the industry average.
Speaker 15:A lot of these tow truck drivers are showing up where they haven't been asked to come there, to try to get some business for themselves, and sometimes they're pretty aggressive get some business for themselves and sometimes they're pretty aggressive.
Speaker 12:Gary Leach, president of the Towing and Recovery Association of Alberta, as well as Jeff Kasperick, the VP of Advocacy and Operations with the Alberta Motor Association, are with us today to talk more about this. And I want to ask you, gary, about these proposed rule changes that are going to city council, so we have the 200-meter buffer zone, unless they've been invited in by a police officer, firefighter or the vehicle owner. $10,000 fine for an offense. Does this go far enough to stop this sort of behavior on Calgary streets?
Speaker 14:Well, joel, it may be too early to really determine that, but what our association recommended at the Community Development Committee meeting yesterday was that in addition to the $10,000 fine, that possibly they could consider the seizure of the vehicle involved the tow truck which in essence would prevent a continuation of the offense. A continuation of the offense, they indicated that that could be step two. If they had a repeat offender, perhaps maybe the second time around the fine would still apply, but then they would seize the vehicle as well. But in addition, the law department spoke that there is a provision in the Calgary bylaws that the fine actually could be as much as $100,000. I don't know that it would ever go to that extent, but that certainly is a possibility.
Speaker 12:I'm curious because it sounds like you have been working with either city councillors or city administration on this. How receptive have you found the city of calgary to be uh gary when it comes to making these changes?
Speaker 14:extremely well regarded they. They actually have been very, uh, very proactive in their approach, um, although they're reacting to what's going on, but I applaud them for what they've done. They're not going to let this persist and carry on in their city, and I think there'll be a strong enforcement from the Calgary Police Service.
Speaker 12:Jeff, I know we spoke earlier about the AMA's campaign to essentially know before the toe and we talked about maybe the main thing that people need to know if they find themselves in this situation. Where do you see this campaign going in the weeks and months ahead and do you think it's getting through to people?
Speaker 4:Well, we've actually seen extremely strong engagement when we launched the campaign we actually launched it just before Christmas last year and since that point in time, there's been a lot of engagement from our membership and from Albertans across the province that are seeing this message and receiving it and perhaps even, in some circumstances, weren't even aware that this was a practice, and so we're quite pleased to see that kind of response. I think what's really critical and where this whole conversation goes, is education is a really important component, as well as legislation, and so we actually applaud the city of Calgary for taking the step that they are. They're leaders right now in the province in addressing predatory towing. In addressing predatory towing, our strong position and our encouragement is that we actually see what's happening within the city of Calgary scale at a province-wide level, and that there be that really strong disincentive that's really targeted to these individual loan operators that you know, regardless of where it is that you are in the province, you can ensure, as an Albertan, that you're protected and also empowered with the right information.
Speaker 12:Yeah, I wanted to ask you, Jeff, because a lot of the focus is on Edmonton and Calgary. This is a province-wide campaign. Are you seeing this in other jurisdictions or is this more of a deterrent so it doesn't spread elsewhere in Alberta?
Speaker 4:We need to get out in front of this. As Gary sort of referred to previously, this is something that we had really seen spread in Ontario. It is, by and large, concentrated in the metropolitan areas where there's strong population centres for these operators to potentially find that opportunity to prey upon those that find themselves in an unfortunate spot. To prey upon those that find themselves in an unfortunate spot, but regardless of where it is that you are in the province, we want to be making sure that we are as uninviting as possible to these really unethical operators that are doing harm to the hard-earned reputation that Alberta's really highly ethical towing operators have gained, as well as the trust that Albertans should have when it is that they need to access towing services.
Speaker 12:All right, Gary, last word to you. How confident are you that City Council as a whole will pass these measures when they bring it up?
Speaker 14:I predict it'll be passed unanimously.
Speaker 12:All right. Well, we wait and see if that is the case. Thank you both for being here. Gary Leach, president of the Towing and Recovery Association of Alberta.
Speaker 6:You're all caught up on the news. This is Towing News Now.
Speaker 3:All right, everybody. Thanks for joining us on this episode. Season four, episode six podcast. We've got another one under wraps. What do you think Wes? How do you think today went?
Speaker 2:Oh, it went great. I appreciate everybody's effort to put it together and, dj, I always appreciate you as well.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate you being in the industry 32 years as a painter and doing your 951st class. I think that's fantastic and I agree with you Phillips is a great company.
Speaker 2:They really did us right, so we were thankful to them as well. Until next time, listeners, thanks for listening. Please be safe out there. You.