QLD Car Towed - Paid to Get It Back

[ColClur]

We were towed in a private car park 30 minutes away from our car in Brunswick Street, New Farm, apparently viewed by cameras. Charged $550 by Brissie Towing

 

[roh]

i think everyone needs to join/respond to a change request, via change.org.
with a significant number of signatures, this can be taken to police and local members and will add a lot of weight (numbers)

 

[REEBEE2011]

We were towed in a private car park 30 minutes away from our car in Brunswick Street, New Farm, apparently viewed by cameras. Charged $550 by Brissie Towing

Oh my gosh, I have just had the same thing happen this weekend at the carpark by Pizza Hut Brunswick St. There was no signage where car was parked and I returned to see my car was gone. The crap thing is, I couldn't find the number to call the tow place and had to ask someone who said they are known for it in this particular spot. It cost me $550 plus the uber fare to pick up and a huge amount of distress as we have just moved to Australia and currently on one income so there goes money for nothing.

I tried to explain to the tow guy where we parked there was no signage and his reply was "Yeh, people pull them out of the garden and my boss is sick of replacing them" he said by law they only have to display on entry which they do have a sign but if you enter the drive while another car is exiting it is totally obscured and out of site, we didn't even see it.

We parked here to pop across road to pick up a Dominos pizza and to get our drinks and smokes from the night owl which is in this carpark area. Unfortunately Dominos were having a mare and we waited 30 mins. A witness said we had just missed the tow truck. Such BS I'm taking it further. Unfortunately they don't know who they are dealing with I will not let this go i am sick of rip off companies that think they hold all the power.....

If anyone else has had issues with Brizzy towing let me know safety in numbers.....

 

[MelSpring]

Hi. I was also towed from 52 McLachlan St by Cactus.

Walked with my 10year old son the 2.8k to cactus yard, $660.00?

I'm happy to pay for towing, as I was aware it was possible, but that's $235.72 per Klm! I am now aware cactus lease the site, cameras feed direct to them and it is only for the purpose of towing vehicles.

What I also am aware of is the owner's details, name, address, phone number, Bodycorp id (cts no.), place of employment. He owns both units at 52 McLachlan St.

Not sure what to do with this info?

Hi Tim, can you please contact me at [Redacted by Moderator - Contact Information]

 

[muz28]

Cactus Towing and Elite Security & Parking Enforcement predatory tow away practices have now been exposed in today's Brisbane Sunday Mail 7th May from their regular appearances at QCAT.

No Cookies | The Courier Mail

Brisbane tow truck rip-off trapping motorists, raking in thousands
Kelmeny Fraser, Charlie Peel, The Sunday Mail (Qld)
May 7, 2017 12:00am

UNSUSPECTING Queensland motorists are being held to ransom by a lucrative tow-truck racket using deceptive and predatory tactics to seize cars then demand hundreds of dollars for their return.

A Sunday Mail investigation can reveal private car parking lots are being used as honey traps by cowboy tow-truck operators using a legal black hole to rake in up to $1000 for each car towed.

Towing companies have been accused in court documents of “extorting members of the public for the return of their vehicles” by forcing them to pay arbitrary minimum release fees of between $440-$660.

Motorists unable to immediately pay the price rack up $66-$120 a day for storage, with one victim asked to pay $10,000 after four months of fighting for the return of his car.

There is also evidence of a luxury car surcharge, with owners of prestige vehicles slugged up to $1000.

That compares to the maximum charge of $325.75 under legislation covering accident towing, which includes three days storage.

But unlike accident towing, towing cars from private property is unregulated. Two companies – Cactus Towing and Elite Security & Parking Enforcement – repeatedly feature in online complaint forums and have been named in at least 20 civil court disputes in the past two years.

The scheme is simple but effective. Tow companies sign contracts for exclusive towing rights over vacant lots or car parks attached to unit blocks, retail and commercial premises in areas where parking is scarce.

Property owners or managers are offered the service free of charge in exchange for the right to tow cars from their land to vehicle compounds, with car owners then hit for a release fee.

Some landlords and body corporates receive as much as a 20 per cent cut of the takings in exchange for giving the companies towing rights for their properties.

One tow operator even took to Facebook to offer “people from all over Brisbane or who have personal parking spaces that have parking issues” the chance to “make money from your spot. Easy”.

The parking lots are then put under watch by the tow workers who are ready to swoop within minutes. Some properties have CCTV cameras and are closely watched by the operators, while “spotters” are also used as back-up to watch lots not under camera surveillance.

The workers are signed up with the promise of making “mad money” in return for doing a “small amount of actual work”, according to one advertisement that was posted online.

Operators then plant their own cars – usually cheap second-hand knockabouts – as “bait” (also referred to as “catchers”) to trick people into thinking they can leave their cars safely without being towed away.

Motorists, seeing a near-empty parking lot with no business activity and a parked car are then duped into parking their own cars.

A former Cactus worker, who quit after he began to “question the legitimacy of it”, told The Sunday Mail on the nights he worked Cactus was towing 20 cars a night on weekends – netting $10,000 plus a night.

“They’ve made a lot of money doing this and are highly aggressive, especially to women,” he said.

“They are operating from about 25 car parks.

“I watched them rip two spoilers off vehicles dragging the cars inappropriately.”

One man was charged $800 after he “made a fuss” while the owner of a new Mercedes-Benz had his release fee inexplicably jacked up to $1000, despite the tow company allegedly breaking the car’s fender, he said. The worker said he was threatened by a crowbar-wielding worker after refusing to tow a mother’s car.

“I said I’m not leaving a young woman in Fortitude Valley at 10pm at night stranded with a one-year-old,” he said.

Affidavits lodged in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal have also taken issue with inadequate “tow away” signs, complaining “intentionally vague signage” made drivers think they were correctly parked.

The tribunal ordered a refund in multiple cases after hearing that motorists were duped by signage that was discreet, ambiguous or hidden from view.

Inner-city retail and business precincts are also proving happy hunting grounds for the tow operators, with customers towed after parking in what they thought was the correct parking bay only to find out the hard way it belonged to a neighbouring retailer.

One such victim said she was “stood over” and verbally abused by a large “extremely aggressive” man when she pleaded for them not to tow her, pointing out the parking sign did not specify a business.

“I told the men at Cactus Towing I would take legal action and their response was ‘good luck b***h, everyone has tried but no one can touch us’,” Belinda Zordan, said in an affidavit lodged with the QCAT. Her case has yet to be heard.

The Sunday Mail is aware of at least one incident where a man claimed he was physically “wrestled” by four Cactus workers.

He paid a $660 release fee for them to unhook his car. One man who stopped to buy chewing gum at a Fortitude Valley Convenience store was charged $660 to get his car back after being falsely accused of visiting the post office in the same precinct.

Another woman, Hayley Tillard, was towed by a company owned by the boss of Elite. She said the operators “effectively stole my car and ordered that I pay the seemingly arbitrary, exorbitant fee of $660 in order to retrieve it.

“It appears that the respondent is involved in deceptive and predatory tow away practices,” she said.

Another litigant accused Cactus of charging “manifestly excessive” fees.

State Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the department was monitoring the industry to ensure laws relating to accident towing were enforced and action was taken over breaches.

‘I feared for my safety’
Victims of an aggressive private parking tow-truck rip-off are being forced to hand over their credit cards and drivers’ licences to unidentified workers at dimly lit “Fort Knox-style” compounds to recover their cars.

One such impoundment yard lies behind an unsigned concrete facade and roller door tucked in between a tyre shop and strip of offices on busy Breakfast Creek Rd at Newstead in inner-city Brisbane.

It is at this featureless frontage bewildered “customers” who have just had their cars towed come face-to-face with the operation of Elite Security & Parking Enforcement’s Christopher Kevin Addley, 38.

They are forced to hand over their driver’s licence to compound staff and pay their fee of up to $660 before being allowed to even see their car.

 

[parker]

Cactus Towing and Elite Security & Parking Enforcement predatory tow away practices have now been exposed in today's Brisbane Sunday Mail 7th May from their regular appearances at QCAT.

No Cookies | The Courier Mail

Moments ago a five minute segment aired on tonight's Channel Nine News (SUN 7 May), including interviews with one of Cactus Towing's charming 'drivers'. They were also badgering a bloke in one of the premises where they regularly operate - he apparently receives a $220 kickback for each tow. Disgusting.

Apparently the QLD transport minister is now aware (apparently this had never been brought to his attention...) and thinks something needs to be done. Ho hum. Small consolation for those of us who have already fallen victim to this scam/extortion.

 

[muz28]

THE Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey has established a hotline for Queenslanders to call in and report issues and experiences with rogue tow-truck drivers as it moves to crack down on cowboy tactics exposed by The Sunday Mail and Nine News.

The hotline number is 1800 681 636.

Minister Bailey said he took an initial submission into Cabinet today and would be bringing a more formal one to the table next week, potentially including new laws or regulations to oversee the towing of vehicles from private property.

“There is widespread concern from the Premier down about dodgy operators working in the tow truck industry,” he said.

“I have been tasked to bring a formal submission to Cabinet for next Monday.

“Clearly people are being ripped off, they are being treated appallingly, their details are being used in a way that is questionable, there are issues around signage on these properties.

“Clearly this needs investigation."

He said the charges being levelled at motorists caught out was an area that could be reformed, along with better signage.

 

[PeanutLuver]

Sorry, keyboard error above.

Was just saying thanks Muz and Parker for update.

I got my car back a while back - but had to pay a real lot still - lot more than anyone else has mentioned I think.

His tow fee was more than the claimed fee (predictable apparently). His (private) backyard paddock storage fee was exorbitant.

The Police will attend but don't really assist.

My car was also not an ordinary car so maybe they thought they were onto a good thing and might get some money.

They had a lot of vehicles on the residential property - chap said they keep them (I had asked in front of the Police when we went into the back yard).

The owner/director told me he was the legitimate owner of my car (and It's contents), and demanded a great deal to get it back.

My car has been completely emptied as well. He certainly knew my name and address, but hadn't contacted me.

Failure to inform the victim is of course is a deliberate tactic to attempt to accrue and extort higher and higher alleged costs against victims. Every day they fail to communicate with you, or return your communication attempts is a day the victim is charged another days storage fees.

Part of the strategy in this case is clearly to set such an initial extreme high combined fee that victims can't afford it and don't know what to do / leave their car with them for even more time or even forever, and/or additionally continue accrue even more "storage" fee costs which the victim can't afford.

No property business signage at the residential property where cars are stored either of course.

 

[PeanutLuver]

So very glad for everyone that Qld now looks like introducing legislation to prevent such extortions.

Let's hope so.

Hopefully Qld Transport Dept / Ministers office know about this law forum website and issues and examples raised here, and that they obtain the identity and storage sites for these operators.

Though it seems to me the individuals, family members, and companies and storage sites involved in the current bad practices should now be banned and excluded from any future Tow truck Operator registration / activity.

Would really really like to see stronger operator rego criteria included in new legislation for all towing for Police, public property/roads, and private property.

How can these rogue operators be allowed to continue to register in future?

 

[PeanutLuver]

What kind of things should we ask to be included / covered in new legislation?

Suggestions?

Can we make a list of ideas?

The way our legislation works we need both an Act (or amended Act), plus Regulations.

We need a set of specific Regulations to stipulate a set of maximum fee scales etc.

There needs to be a list of offences (with fines) for tow truck operators and property owners who do the wrong thing.

Police powers to obtain return of a vehicle would be nice.

They should not be allowed to keep / retain any vehicle contents at all - this should be readily accessible and obtainable by the rightful vehicle owner.