ESPN's Britt McHenry is Not Nice....

[Tarheel316]

The impound lot/towing scheme is sort of like the IRS and its Tax code - it takes damn near an MBA to figure out all of the tax laws and fill out the damn paperwork and then if you make a mistake or you don't quite understand a deduction, you get audited and have to spend a lot of money to defend why you didn't understand a ridiculous form they make fill out.

fork them too

Zag, Congress is to blame. Congress wrote the tax code.

 

[Stoney]

And, yes, they are perfectly capable of holding a vehicle without charging for it.

Well, of course they're "perfectly capable" of doing it for free, as is any service industry business, but why would they?

You know, my plumber was perfectly capable of fixing my toilet for free, but the forker sent me a bill anyways. No fair, I didn't break the thing....

 

[Pilot]

The tow company shouldn't do it for free in a stolen car case, but perhaps they could skip the "fork You" rate of $250 to tow, $5 per mile to transport, $50 per day and whatever other 95 fees they can tack on to it.

I've never understand why city parking tickets, or out of date state license plates, or any other BS reason they tow people would be the business of a private tow company. If someone parks all night in a lot or spot that is clearly illegal and/or marked for towing (be it an hour limit, or a "customers only" or a "between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.") by all means tow away. If it's someone that falls into their trap in some other way, someone targeted by predatory tactics just to get the fee, that's when I get angry.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

San Francisco is considering waiving the fees to pick up stolen cars. This story says the city used to have a waiver, then got rid of it in 2005.

SF to study impacts of removing fees for retrieving towed stolen cars | Government & Politics | San Francisco | San Francisco Examiner

 

[Vombatus]

Lynchburg? I live near 93? Whoa.

 

[93Devil]

Lynchburg? I live near 93? Whoa.

I'm about 5 hrs. It just popped on Goggle.

 

[Vombatus]

I'm about 5 hrs. It just popped on Goggle.

I guess that's like being 15 minutes from Tahoe.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

The tow company shouldn't do it for free in a stolen car case, but perhaps they could skip the "fork You" rate of $250 to tow, $5 per mile to transport, $50 per day and whatever other 95 fees they can tack on to it.

I've never understand why city parking tickets, or out of date state license plates, or any other BS reason they tow people would be the business of a private tow company. If someone parks all night in a lot or spot that is clearly illegal and/or marked for towing (be it an hour limit, or a "customers only" or a "between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.") by all means tow away. If it's someone that falls into their trap in some other way, someone targeted by predatory tactics just to get the fee, that's when I get angry.

To me, it also seems like towing away and making people pay the company for city parking tickets or parking illegally in a public place (private lots are different) deprives the driver their Constitutional right to due process. It shouldn't be an automatic guilty ruling. Treat it like a speeding ticket. Give people the choice of either paying it, or go to court and make the city prove they were illegally parked (have the meter person or tower take pictures for proof).

 

[Iron_chet]

Towing company can build the cost of the towing of stolen vehicles into the cost of getting the contract.

They know that historically they are going to have x amount of cars towed that they will not be able to levy a charge, simply build that in to your overall costing that you give the municipal authority.

 

[bigpern23]

Coincidentally, I finished catching up on this thread and then went out to grab some lunch. Lo and behold, there was a woman in the parking lot of the area where the company I spoke about earlier usually tows and she was complaining that they illegally towed her while she went into one of the businesses to grab a sandwich. A young woman was telling her that the same thing just happened to two other people.

Looks like they haven't changed.

I explained to her about the company's tactics, encouraged her to take them to small claims court and told her she should file a complaint. I also offered her Baron's advice to report it stolen.

 

[Moderator1]

She's back, no extension on suspension or anything else
ESPN reporter Britt McHenry will return to television this weekend - More Sports - SI.com

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

How long do you think it will be until somebody either snubs her or says something to her about the incident on the air?