CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A City Council committee has approved a proposal to try to rein in “rogue” tow truck companies by licensing all tow trucks and setting limits on how they could operate.
Aldermen said there are too many tow truck operators who rush to the scenes of crashes, getting there sometimes before police, hook up vehicles before the vehicle owners even know what’s going on, and charge the vehicle owners outrageous fees. Sometimes, they even put people's lives in jeopardy.
Southwest Side Alderman Ray Lopez said he had an incident just this week with a tow truck driver going the wrong way on a one-way street.
"When I approached him to try to get him to stop going the wrong direction, out of fear that he’d run over one of my community’s children, he took it upon himself to park and approach me, my ward supt., and a district sanitation supervisor, intimating that he was ready to shoot us for interrupting him, reaching into his waistband," Ald. Lopez said.
Alderman Lopez said police arrested the tow truck driver.
"But as I reached out to the departments yesterday and today to find out what recourse we had, who licensed, how do we hold them accountable, there was none on the city side. That is something that, I hope, this legislation is the first step in changing," Ald. Lopez said.
Now, 36th Ward Alderman Gilbert Villegas said today is the beginning of a safer, more accountable tomorrow regarding tow truck companies.
"In June of 2020, six people were injured in a bus crash in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood caused by a tow truck driver racing to an accident scene. CPD has reported instances of gunfire between rival towing companies and incidents of arson at towing storage facilities with clear elements of organized crime,” Villegas said.
“Bogus paperwork at accident scenes. Towers claiming they were ‘sent by your insurance company’ and towers monitoring police radios to beat law enforcement to the accident scene. Towing bills for simple accidents ranging from the $3,000 to $5,000...Whatever is currently in place is not working.”
Under the measure, every tow truck that operates in Chicago would need a special license costing $250, as well as license the locations where vehicles they tow are stored. Tow trucks would also not be allowed to stop at or near crash sites to solicit those involved in crashes unless called by police, and they would not be able to hold crash victims’ vehicles for ransom.
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