This poster just received a very disturbing email that related that a railfan's vehicle parked in a shopping center was towed away in the short time that he walked up on a roadway bridge to photograph trains for a few minutes.
The 9-1-1 people that he called suggested that he wait a few minutes to see if a towing company called it in. Sure enough, the towing company called it in. The 9-1-1 people then conveyed the tow truck company's phone number to the victim, almost as if it was a corrupt scheme even the 9-1-1 people were in on!
To make a long story short, apparently the railfan told the towing company something so disturbing that they immediately brought his car back to him and didn't charge him for the tow!
The point in all this is that, not only do railfans have some super paranoid, erratic trainmen to worry about, but, from the email that was received, it looks like they have to make sure they park somewhere on an actual public street (and not at a place that only looks public), which safe public parking may be a long distance from the tracks.
Obviously, like railroads that attack and alienate their helpful friends, the shopping center attacked someone honest that could mean additional bread and butter for them! That strikes me as the height of stupidity!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
Well you have certainly piqued my curiosity... what in the world could the person have said that was:
"something so disturbing that they immediately brought his car back to him and didn't charge him for the tow"
??
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
A couple two-threeish years ago I was pursuing CNW 8646 near Adams, WI. I stopped in a parking lot near a hardware store to sit and wait. After about 15 minutes one of the store employees came out to chat with me. Once I told him what I was doing (in the interest of not being chased off or having the PD called) he pointed to the sign I missed on the side of the building. It basically stated the lot was for customers only. I went in and bought a couple of AA batteries, a snack, and a drink. They left me alone for the rest of the afternoon.
Perhaps the individual in your email should have gone in to make a purchase and kept his receipt on his person. That way they patronized the business and had a legit reason to park there...aside from getting pictures.
Dan
Semper Vaporo Well you have certainly piqued my curiosity... what in the world could the person have said that was: "something so disturbing that they immediately brought his car back to him and didn't charge him for the tow" ??
"something so disturbing that they immediately brought his car back to him and didn't charge him for the tow" ??
Well, I could imagine anything from "I was parked legally - I was shopping in a store there and have the receipt to prove it !", to "The sign said not more than 30 minutes, and I was only there for 15 - and the download from my car's GPS will prove it !", to . . . "I'm a lawyer . . . " to "My uncle is the mayor or police chief who licenses your business . . . do what's good for you".
I can believe it. Such scams in Philadalphia have gotten a lot of press and airplay in the past few months - there's presently a bill pending in City Council that would prohibit and make such tows unlawful unless a police pr parking authority officer shows up and tickets the car.
On the other hand, closer to home some cars have been towed from a K-Mart shopping center lot because they were left there while the non-patrons took an all-day long bus trip from there to the Atlantic City casinos. It costs money to build, maintain, pay taxes on - and around here, plow the snow from - those lots, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for that bunch - or the bus company, either.
Morals from this story: "Know the territory" - "Read the signs" - "Patronize the businesses and cultivate friends", etc.
- Paul North.
The towing scam takes place all over the country on parking lots both large and small. The specifics of each scam may vary but generally they go along the lines of....1. A small sign placed in a out of the way viewing area, but clearly visible stating a number of conditions under which parking is permitted or prohibited. 2. A tow truck in the immediate area that can detect if the conditions have been complied with (even when the situation prevents ANYONE from complying with the conditions). The truck waits for the sucker and then pounces. In many cases the lot owner and tow truck operator are complicit on the scam and share the proceeds.
Hook & go and get the sucker to pay the towing & storage fees to retrieve their car.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD is correct:
Some years back (abt: 2001) the Atlanta, Ga. was particularly 'hot' with these towing schemes/scams. The targets then were specifically, large trucks in shopping center lots.
A wrecker company would make a contract to pull 'illegally' parked trucks off the lots tennent or owner. Then, there were some interprising individuals who co-opted the idea on their own, and would post a sign without the owners permission ( particularly, in a very large lot where local drivers had gotten into the habit of parking rigs overnight, or when stopping by, to visit home). The wrecker driver would post a sign in an out of the normal line of sight, and then swoop in, and tow the offending vehicles).
The driver then returns to pick up his unit and continue on, and it is gone! The driver when looking around might find the sign, and its' notice of restricted parking, and a notice to tow offenders with the Tow Co.'s phone number. The next step for the driver is finding out how much it will cost to recover the unit from the impounding tower. You can bet it will be several hundreds of dollars. The individual driver will bear THAT expense alone, because they either made an assumption that to park there was ok ( evidence by other trucks parking there, all the time); or their not having permission from the store or store manager to park on the lot.
When this SCAM play out, it is highly remunerative for the Towing Co. and very expensive for the Driver of the impounded rig.
There is no reason why it would not work on POV's of individuals as well. If railfanning, off of a big lot as the poster stated: Be aware of your surroundings, and any restrictive signs; assume NOTHING and maybe make a small purchase and contact with the managers, so they are aware of your intentions. It can mostly help and forstall a rousting by the enforcement unit.
Both Semper Vaporo and Mike O (6-28):
The person involved assures me it is a very real story.
He believes two things made them see the writing on the wall, so to speak:
(1) The person was a diabetic, and it seems the last thing the towing company would want is a medical lawsuit, or even be charged with attempted or actual murder if worse came to worse.
(2) Undoubtedly, the law enforcement in the jurisdiction of their operation informed them that the towed vehicle's license plates were "blocked" license plates, i.e., the vehicle was in some unknown way connected to law enforcement somewhere!
Semper VaporoWell you have certainly piqued my curiosity... what in the world could the person have said that was: "something so disturbing that they immediately brought his car back to him and didn't charge him for the tow" ??
In California, the probable phrase was "treble damages" and a reminder that sky's the limit if it was "patrol towing" and not properly authorized.
Methinks it's not so much the restrictions on parking that bother people - most everyone understands that many lots for "for customers only", even if the sign is virtually invisible (yet clearly visible if you know where to look). The problem with these scams is usually that the tow truck operator is poised, ready to pounce, as opposed to, say, responding when the lot owner senses a violator. Thirty minute limit? Tow truck is hooking up at minute 31!
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I probably should not have to point out that a person's health status ("Diabetes" supposed in this case) does not automatically make one immune to trespass law (I am sure certain circumstances could mitigate some penalties).
Also, use of "official" licensing (license plates for a vehicle in this case) for personal business (rail-fanning in this case) is a form of corruption (you'd be hard pressed to claim trespass immunity in this case and it really should open quite a "can o' worms" for the licensing body!)
In this case, neither of these circumstances should have negated the towing fees. The person was (apparently) not a patron of the business that owned the parcel of land used as a convenient parking place and thus was in violation of the usual trespass laws in effect in every place in this country that I know of.
The owner of the property might have elected to waive (or absorb) the fee in leiu of bad publicity that might ensue if it were pressed to the legal limit.
That is the only thing that I can think of... the owner of the car was the owner of the local news rag or media outlet and threatened bad publicity if things were not "set right" (or "wrong", as the case might be interpreted).
Yes, I think some of these "Tow Away at Owner's Expense" zones are rather petty, but that does not negate the reason for them nor does it make it wrong for the owner of the property to exercise their right to control the use of their land.
As a matter of law, they may be required to exercise that right in order to maintain that right. If they fail to prohibit one car from using their property as general public parking, they will be hard pressed to legally keep the lot free of non-patrons so their real patrons can find a place to park to do business with them.
A restaurant here shared(?) a parking lot with a "big-box" store and during heavy shopping seasons the parking for the two businesses became a problem. So the "big-box" store built a tall stockade fence along the property line separating the two. It should be noted that the restaurant's parking area was bordered on three sides by the "big-box" store's parking area. There was no way to get from either parking area to the other business without walking to the frontage road to get around the fence. The fence was so high that from the main highway the restaurant was not even visible! But, until the fence had been bumped into by enough cars to cause it to fall apart, it became a hugh advertising ploy for the restaurant! All their adverts included the statement, "We're behind the spite fence!".
Some excellent thoughts have been presented in the replies.
For the record, the victim informs me that the parking lot is a humungous one with hundreds of EMPTY spaces. It seems his biggest mistake was parking near the tracks. If he had parked with the rest of the parked cars, security would not have had something pop out at them. The second mistake was probably not buying something beforehand and getting a receipt for it.
But, aren't we all a bit wiser now?
There are not many PD jobs available to people with diabetes.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
This sounds like the typical internet hoax story that are routinely debunked on snopes.com.
No details whatsoever as to when, where, why.
Lance
Why would you insist this is a hoax? It sounds pefectly legit to me. Even though getting the towing company to simply bring the car back isn't such an easy thing, there are a number of ways that could have been taken care of.
Where and when did it happen? If the poster wants to let us all know to be aware of this type of thing, then why don't we know WHERE exactly this took place? Might be something that the rest of us would like to know. "Hey this town is a speed trap, but I can't tell you where it is. So you just better slow down." Gee, thanks.
Even if the guy who had his car towed had a medical condition like being diabetic, why would you keep your insulin and other medical supplies in a vehicle that'd be out of sight? Most insulin that I've seen over the past 20 years (since my wife is a Type-I diabetic) is supposed to be kept refrigerated. He's lucky that his vehicle got towed and not broken into.
LWales (Two posts on 6/29):
Greetings, Lance:
Where and when the event took place is really irrelevant; it is what happened and how we can all benefit from awareness of that event is what is important.
But, because you seem to be a persistent suspicious doubter, the following is presented:
The event occurred last week in La Puente, California.
The above photo was taken by the car's owner during its return.
A double-stack train is seen on the upper left of the photo.
It is trusted you do not have an ulterior motive to speak negatively about making others aware of this apparently growing and lucrative practice, and the above is sufficient proof for one to take the matter to heart.
To Everyone: About Diabetes and Employment
The victim has Type II diabetes, and is NOT insulin dependent like with Type I. Type II diabetics generally are encouraged to drink plenty of water. But, for the short time he was up on the bridge (seen in the upper left of the above photo), the absence of water was fine, especially since he could EXPECT to drink from his jug of water when he returned to his car.
As far as certain professions are concerned, diabetes is kind of incompatible with them. But he is NOT the one in a profession involving public safety, but his SPOUSE is.
It is hoped everyone will now see the value of this topic without being sidetracked with suspicion over, admittedly, something rather unbelievable.
Take care all,
K.P.
"Game, set, and match to K.P." Nice, exemplary job of answering the questions and refuting the implied allegations, without getting all torqued up about it, and still remaining quite civil and informative.
That doesn't look like the largest or most-well-equipped towing outfit I've seen, though it does appear that a name is on the door. Wonder how much one of those winches costs to buy and mount on a pick-up to go into the towing business for myself ?
Thanks again for your thoughts and consideration for our collective benefit and behalf throughout this thread.
Well there you have it, that should make it all better now, and i say its still a hoax. why. thpe 2 diabetic dont need water handy, and is not told to drink plenty of water, everyone is told to stay hydrated in the heat. next just because its a cops spouse does not give him the right to park on private ( yes a shopping center is private if not shopping there) property thoses who park on others property saying im not hurting anything need thier cars towed. I would say they should thank the tow company for bringing the car back at no charge, and should not even be wasting the time of others with the story they made up.
Paul; the rig looks like a " cradle -snatcher " and they are not cheap. Some times they are called " grab & snatch " . A few of the " tow companys in the PHX. area are unscrups, and called curb stone wreckers.
Jim
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Well, now that we know that it was in California, I can observe that California has very strict laws concerning towing from private property (specifically, the now very long section 22658 of the Vehicle Code) which courts have construed strictly against the property owner and tow company.
At one point down here in San Diego, a towing company convinced one of our Federal District Court judges that federal law preempted the state laws prohibiting "patrol towing" in spite of a specific provision in the particular federal statute saying otherwise. The Ninth Circuit reversed, since the federal statute was pretty clear on the subject not being preempted (I think they call that a "savings clause" but that is my memory without taking the time to go back and look at that decision.)
Looking into the "book" that that section has become (30 years ago, it was about five paragraphs...not so any more), I find that "patrol towing" is only allowed under very limited circumstances which don't appear to have occurred in this instance. "Patrol towing" is towing without specific written authorization by the property owner or owner's agent (who may not be a towing company employee) for the specific vehicle to be towed. In addition, violation of the patrol towing prohibitions is a misdemeanor with a hefty fine ($2,500) associated with it and possible jail time.
There are other requirements for sign posting in parking areas that have been in effect for many decades, which have as well been construed strictly by the courts over the years. To say the least, this whole area has been the subject of a lot of legislative attention out here as a result of cowboy towing over the years.
That being said, I now have some idea about what prompted the rapid return of the vehicle, which I don't need to share because as I said, it is "some idea" and not based on known facts.
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