Birmingham passes new booting and towing rule

After 3 years of heated debate the Birmingham City Council has approved a new amended ordinance to cover booting and towing illegally parked vehicles. 

Several drivers have complained about their vehicles being powerless while going out to Five Points business district. They also complained about the high cost of getting their vehicles back from Towing Companies

The way parking lots look now they are Venus Fly Traps. The look attractive on the outside but when you get on the inside you get fixed up in the web and you cannot escape without paying $300 dollars to get your car back. Austin said.

South side businesses said they wanted to apply illegal parking because it was hurt their business. Don Erwin, VP of Development of Barber Companies, said illegal parking was attractive away spots from employees working at lab testing company which lease a Barber building. 

The signage is clearly delineated from street parking and all these employees want to be a place to park and do their job, Erwin said.

However, businesses also say that new supplies will cost them more money. Erwin says the requirement to put in landscape and fencing to clearly differentiate between legal and street parking would cost his company up to $100,000. 

The council changed some of the language to allow alternative to chain link fencing. Councilman Johnathan Austin, who represents part of South side, says the ordinance also requires those towing to treat the public with courtesy and to dress efficiently. That means no cutoffs, tank tops or flips flops.

Towing Costs Jump in Detroit from $75 to $215

The cost for receiving back a vehicle that is towed in Detroit is going up in a big way.

Detroit announced that Detroit City Council approved the new rate for recovering vehicles that are towed to the city impound lot or lots operate by police-authorized towing companies. The rate now is $215, up from the previous cost of $75.

Detroit says the new rate is lower than costs in many other major U.S. cities.

Too many parking tickets and a number of other reasons can get vehicles towed. Non-standard vehicles, such as mobile homes, commercial vehicles and boats are subject to other costs. There is also a $15 storage fee for each 24-hour period any vehicle remains impounded.

Driver on phone while towing trailer recipe disaster

A 39-year-old driver seen chatting on the phone while Towing Recovery a trailer with not working brakes was a recipe for disaster, Fermanagh Court has heard. 

William McGinley was fined £400 and given 3 penalty points when he admitted using a mobile phone while driving and using a trailer in a unsafe condition.

A prosecutor told the court that on Saturday, February 2, police saw McGinley driving a Vauxhall Insignia along the Derrylin Road, Enniskillen. He was towing a trailer and holding a mobile phone to his ear. The police stopped him and noticed that the brake cable on the trailer was worn and rusted and was not connected, so the brakes were not working. 

Defence solicitor Gary Smyth said McGinley had rented the trailer to pick up tools for a horse. When the police pointed out the problem with the brakes he deserted his journey and turned back. There was no load in the trailer at the time. 

District Judge Liam McNally said: If ever there was a recipe for ruin, this was it: defective brakes on the trailer and talking on a mobile phone.

He said that when the case first came before the court McGinley, with an address at Stoke-on-Trent in England, was not lawfully represented and he had been minded to debar him from driving for 3 months.

Towing service provider sought for Dallas

Dallas Township supervisor are seeking input from area Towing Service provider in an effort to consolidate the townships towing response system.

At the April 2 work session, police Chief Robert Jolley presented a proposal and supporting documents he compiled.

It is our objective to ensure the safety of the motoring public and to provide needed assistance to individuals in need of a timely, efficient and safe manner of towing, he stated.

Towing contractors interested in taking part in future operations within the township are invited to provide input at the next work session, to be held at 7 p.m. May 7 in the municipal building.

More information and copies of the proposal are available in the Dallas Township managerial offices, located at 2919 state Route 309, during normal business hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

New Towing Regulations Passed in Pemberton

Township council passed a new and revise towing ordinance Feb. 20 by a common 5-0 vote. There was no public or council comment on the measure, which had been debated at length in 2 previous meetings.

The measure was originally introduced as Ordinance No. 1, but revisions were so extensive while trying to resolve latent conflicts between tow operators and customers that it became Ordinance No. 2.

The ordinance sets up a revolving pool of tow operators on a weekly basis, sets fees for towing, wait times and distances, and attempts to be fair to both operator and their customers. The 15-page ordinance also includes a long list of tools operators must possess to be part of the township towing pool.

In other business, council extended the township agreement with Lourdes Medical Center to provide emergency vehicle and ambulance service. The current 3-year agreement, scheduled to end this September, will be extensive until September 2015.

The township will furnish the fuel for the 2 ambulances involved. One ambulance is on call 24 hours towing and the services a week. The second provides service from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Council also acted upon 4 other resolution. 2 were minor, but the other 2 are of interest.

The first awards a 2-year contract to Computer Software Inc. for networking and information technology services. The monthly price this year is $3,210, rising to $3,345 a month in 2014.The second resolution allows a temporary emergency budget misuse of $1,000 for a defined contribution to the employee’s retirement system.

A second ordinance, requiring all volunteer firefighters to have a driver license and, at a minimum, a qualified driver and operator of a class A pumper license passed by a 5-0 vote. When introduce earlier this year, it was found that a few members of the township fire departments did not possess a current driver license.

Many felt a required license was unnecessary, as some firefighters had no interest in driving any fire tools. But fire officials said that in times of emergency, times may arise where no licensed drivers would be available to move equipment, chiefly at fire sites. To cover that possibility, the new resolution was passed.

Council introduces a 3rd ordinance, involving minor changes to the Veterans Advisory Committee. Following a short break, there was a prolonged discussion about the 2012 municipal budget, but no action on passing it.

A proposal granting 2 percent raises to non-union workers was discuss, but the only vote was simply to begin the measure for a public hearing at council March 6 meeting.Councilwoman Diane Stinney objected to a proposed $2,200 raise for new township administrator Dennis Gonzalez, primarily since he is been here for about 6 months.

Under new business, 3 purchases totaling roughly $27,625 were approved. They were $15,850 to Dazell Hardware of Nonmember to convert the public and senior buildings to gas; $6,775 to Atlantic Plumbing of Wrights town for a new valve for Well No. 7, and $5,000 to Allied Biological of Hackettstown to manage and control aquatic plants in Mirror Lake.

There was almost an hour of public comment. The most main fact learned was that Well No. 12 was back in service. An early meeting highlight was a presentation by Commercial Utility Consultants on possible energy savings. Committee took the matter under advisement.

Towing firm of gouging on Trucking Companies

The owner of a Detroit trucking firm, D. R. Logistics, is accusing a towing company of taking advantage of a tragic chain response crash on I-75 on Jan. 31 that claimed 3 lives after she received a bill for $10,250 from the company that tows for the Michigan State Police.

A sudden white-out caused a terrible chain reaction crash leaving 3 people dead and a tangled mess that closed the I-75 for hours. Among the trucks drawn in was one belonging a trucking company owned by Jaime Redmond and her husband, according to a 7 Action News report.

Our truck was able to come to a stop before he hit anyone and then everybody behind him just kind of slid into him basically. So we were at the front of the pack, Redmond said. She immediately sent her regular towing company, Byers Towing, to retrieve her truck.

However, when the Byers truck arrived, it was blocked from the scene by trucks from avenue and Trumbull, the towing company used by the state police. A state trooper told the Byers driver that Boulevard and Trumbull would be towing all and that he would have to leave. Redmond truck, completely loaded with freight, was towed to Boulevard and Trumbull lot and held quickly. 

The next morning, she sent Byers to retrieve her semi. It was loaded with freight that had to be delivering. We had no choice but to use Boulevard. And then we had no selection to get our truck out. And then we get this bill, said Redmond. Byers towing said they would have charged Redmond about $3,500, a third of what she actually paid.

Boulevard and Trumbull has a contract with the Michigan State Police giving them special towing rights on most of the freeways in the City of Detroit. According the state police, if you get into an accident on a city freeway, you can only use your own towing company if your vehicle is not blocking traffic. If traffic is blocked, you have to use Boulevard and Trumbull and you pay what they charge.

Redmond suspect there are other No happy customers from the Jan. 31 accident. There is no way that we could have been the only company that this happened to. There were several other semi trucks that were concerned. And how much money did this guy make off of it.

The 7 Action News Investigators are seeking other semi owners involved in the crash to resolve if they, too, feel they were overcharged for towing. The news station filed a Freedom of Information request asking Michigan State Police for names of other victims in this crash to see if any others had issues with their towing bills.

From Twinkies want to Transmission and Towing

When the Wonder Bread/Hostess store closed its doors this past year, it was chance knocking for Chad Joosse and Nick Bollenbacher.

The co-owners and operators of Arrow Transmission and Towing in the past located in rural Sheboygan Falls were fast to attain the facility located at 1923 Erie Avenue.

With the fast-growing business needing more functioning space and visibility to the public, a month after completely renovating the interior, they have moved their operations to the Erie Avenue location in Sheboygan.

We now have twice the square footage from the Highway 32 location with easier access to the society, said Joosse who worked around the clock to provide a warm and welcoming atmosphere to the reception area.

Business since in 1999 Arrow has become the biggest independent transmission repair shop in the county offering excellence professional services, 24 hour towing and recovery transfer case rebuilds, four by 4 repair and roadside service. 

The shop has added one new hoist and 3 more are arriving. Four tow trucks are on call. Arrow has 4 employees including Joosse.

In 2010, Arrow Towing was award the Sheboygan County contract for Law Enforcement serving the eastern half of the county.

We were mostly unknown. We have seen more business and foot traffic since re-locating. The general public is asking questions said Joosse.

The name to remember when you need help is Arrow asserted Joosse. They also offer promotional materials such as calendars. To the first 100 customers a Hostess Twinkie is awarded.