City seeks higher fines for pushy tow-truck drivers

The City of Ottawa is asking for higher fines for tow truck drivers who breach a 100-metre buffer around a crash scene.

According to a memo to council’s community and protective services committee, the city applied to the chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice for a “significant increase” to the penalty. The current fine is $190, but it can be reduced to $160 for early payment.

The memo from bylaw chief Roger Chapman doesn’t say what the city believes the fine should be.

“As there is no guarantee that the requested fine amount will be approved by the Ontario Court of Justice, Bylaw and Regulatory Services does not disclose its set fine application requests,” Chapman said in an email.

The bylaw protects motorists who have been involved in collisions and allows emergency responders to do their jobs without managing a crowd of tow operators looking for business. Only tow operators who have been requested by the affected motorists, police or insurance companies can approach the crash scene.

Ottawa police wrote 148 tickets under the bylaw in 2017. Police wrote 169 tickets in 2015 and 101 tickets in 2016.

City staff maintain that there doesn’t need to be a wider regulatory scheme for tow operators in Ottawa. Chapman’s memo says it’s “too early to recommend a regulatory framework for Ottawa’s tow industry,” but the city is working with other governments and agencies to increase public awareness of consumer-protection measures. The province launched new regulations last year to help customers understand how much they’ll pay before accepting a tow service.

The city is asking other emergency responders to help enforce the tow buffer.

Ottawa firefighters and paramedics can now write to the bylaw department to complain about offending tow operators. Bylaw officers can then pursue charges.

Firefighters have been handing out pamphlets to aggressive tow operators since last December. If the tow operators continue to breach the 100-metre buffer around the crash scene, firefighters can fill out a witness form and send it to the bylaw department, which will issue the ticket.

Bylaw officers have written tickets on two occasions based on firefighters’ witness forms. Because the partnership with firefighters is working so well, the city is now asking paramedics to report tow operators who are violating the bylaw.

The bylaw department will tell the Ontario Ministry of Transportation about repeat offenders and the MTO has the option of further sanctions when it comes to the tow driver’s commercial vehicle permit.

Bylaw staff will consider other ideas involving the tow industry when it launches another bylaw review during the next term of council.