American Recovery, a towing business with two locations in Chattanooga, has been suspended from the city’s towing rotation list for 30 days because of violations of the ordinance regulating non-consent towing from a private property.
Prior to towing a vehicle from private property without the vehicle owner’s permission, the towing operator must have written and signed authorization from the property owner. A complaint was received from a group of people who parked their cars overnight in the Walmart parking lot on Brainerd Road, where they met to take a bus to the casinos in Mississippi on the night of March 27. The owners departed on March 26 and returned the following day to find all 25 of the cars gone.
The vehicle owners lined up to speak at the Wrecker Board meeting, saying that for the past two years they had parked at the same place for these recurring trips. The last time had been in December and there were no problems then. Cindy Bailey told the board that she had been given permission by a Walmart “team leader” two years ago who had written her contact information on a slip of paper. It is unknown if she is still an employee of the store. But permission needs to come from the manager who has the authority to give it.
The wrecker ordinance also specifies that “no parking” signs must be posted on the property by the owner, and that if a towing company has a contract to tow vehicles from the location, they too must have signs which gives their phone number and address, the towing and storage rates, and times of operation. In this case Walmart had signs on every light pole said Gregory Black, owner of American Recovery, and his company also had signs but a lot of the required information was missing. The owners of the towed cars disputed saying they did not see signs or that they were placed too high to notice.
Walmart has a designated parking area for employees and towing companies know to leave those cars. The procedure that is followed at the store for towing cars left in the lot past 11 p.m. when the store is closed includes that a towing company must have written authorization from the property owner, including a signature, to tow a vehicle. American Recovery was relying on a text message dated March 3 giving permission, but had no dated contract. Lance Pope, attorney for the towing company, said also that a “tow-slip” which is created for each vehicle that is removed, could serve as a contract.
He said that the process that American Recovery has been following is, as the store is closing, the manager gives permission to tow vehicles left in the lot in areas that are posted for no parking. They can tow after 12:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. When cars are being moved, the towing company takes a photo of each vehicle and sends it to the store manager at Walmart who compares them to the tow-tickets and invoices and if they match, they are signed and sent back to American Recovery. These tickets authorize the tow. The store is closed when the trucks arrive to move the cars, so no manager is there to sign the tickets and grant permission prior to them being towed, although that is a condition in the wrecker ordinance.
Those individuals who returned to find their cars missing told the board that because they saw no signs, they did not know where to find their cars at first. When they found what had happened, and went to American Recovery at 4300 Rossville Blvd. to pay and retrieve their vehicles, they discovered the cars were not there but were stored at a second location of the business on Shepherd Road near the airport. Because they had no transportation, they had to find rides or pay to get from one location to the other. Additionally the owners were charged different amounts ranging from $200 to $290 for what the ordinance says should be $120 for a standard tow. After hearing the complaints from the car owners at a previous beer board meeting, the overcharges were subsequently refunded.
The motion to give a 30-day suspension from the city’s towing rotation list passed unanimously, with Vice Chairman Vince Butler encouraging owner Black to know the ordinance and to charge fairly and consistently and in compliance. And Dan Mayfield said that cars should be where people are told they will be.
The owner said the double location issue is being addressed by moving to a new location at 5910 Shaw Ave.
A second violation against this business also stemmed from a different non-consent tow from the same parking lot on a different day. On March 22, a car was towed and the operator neglected to report it to the police department, which is supposed to be done within one hour. When it was discovered, he was suspended from driving for the company for three days. This is not an on-going problem, the board was told. The board had only two options available for penalizing the company for this violation: to dismiss it or give a 30-day suspension from the rotation list. A motion to dismiss failed for the lack of a second. That was followed by the motion for suspension from rotation for 30 days which resulted in a vote of four in favor and one against which also failed since five votes are needed to pass a motion. With no other option, the motion died.