Operators say police treat them unfairly
Tow-truck operators, who aren’t contracted for Ottawa police investigations, claim they’re being badmouthed by cops at run-of-the-mill crashes where motorists are free to choose the company they want.
A few dozen tow operators followed each other from the Ottawa Police Services (OPS) east division in Orléans to city hall on Monday morning to protest what they said was unfair treatment by police. They honked their horns as they lined Lisgar Street, exiting their rigs with protest placards.
“I just think it needs to be fair for everybody. We need equal opportunity. We all have families at home. Everybody needs to eat. This is the business we’ve chosen for ourselves. For us to be shut down on accident scenes and not given an opportunity to help somebody ... our companies are being slandered,” said Junior Latreille of Response Towing.
“The police are starting to get pretty hard on us. Once we show up on a scene, the police wouldn’t give us an opportunity to offer a service of quality. Meanwhile, they’ll call a contract tow to come down and not even give the consumer an opportunity to contact their own towing.”
The police department contracts towing services for investigations. For example, when police need to get a vehicle to an impound lot for a probe, they need to call the contracted tow company. Police have two tow contract zones, east and west. Ottawa Metro Towing and Recovery has the contract for the east zone and Metro Towing and Recovery Group has the contract for the west zone. The last contracts were tendered in December 2015.
The protesting tow operators claim that even when a disabled vehicle isn’t the subject of an investigation, police are still calling the contracted companies, rather that letting the motorists decide which tow company to call.
OPS declined to comment on the tow drivers’ allegation.
OPS says its advises motorists to call the 1-800 number on their insurance forms to get instructions if they need a tow. The police service also offers tow tips on its website.
Liam Crowley, who drives for Canadian Towing, said “reputable” tow companies are being demoralized by police at crash scenes.
“We’re the first responders. We make sure everybody is OK, no one’s hurt. If the ambulance needs to be called, we’ll call an ambulance. We’ll wait there for the police to show up. We don’t solicit. We just stay there,” Crowley said. “The police say, ‘No, you don’t want to go with this company, you’re going to go with Metro.’ They don’t give the people a choice. It’s your car, it’s your choice.”
Crowley said tow operators respect the 100-metre buffer bylaw for tow trucks around a crash scene. The bylaw says a tow operator can’t approach unless called by a vehicle owner, insurance company or police.
At the same time, police have cracked down on tow operators racing to crashes.
Another tow operator, Mo Randy, said he doesn’t mind that police have contracted companies for investigations. Tow operators want a chance to get all the other business without the alleged police interference, he said.
“We’re all here to get a fair chance to do the same job. It shouldn’t be a monopoly with Metro and the police. We follow the same pricing as the rest of Ontario, so we just want an equal chance to work,” Randy said.
Nadeem Chama, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said the protesting tow operators are “exercising the consumer’s right” to choose a tow company, rather than letting police decide who gets business.
Ali Awad of Express Towing also positioned the protest as a consumer protection matter.
“We don’t want to take this in a negative perspective, but a positive perspective with the Ottawa police and the City of Ottawa to be able to have equal opportunity,” Awad said. “At the same time, it’s being able to give consumers their own choice rather than making the choice for them.”
We just want an equal chance to work.