Handicap Tenants Towed

[TowZone]

Legally handicapped tenants question towing company’s right to tow them from parking spots

 

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Anger and frustration tonight over cars being towed from handicap spots in an Omaha apartment complex. The vehicle owners are not only tenants, but they have state-issued handicap placards.

So why were they towed?

If the cane isn’t enough to show Maggie Graham needs a handicap spot outside her apartment, she has a blue sticker to prove it.

But over the weekend the same company towed her car again.

“Maybe I’m asking too much of this world to be fair and to be kind, but he had towed my car once before, he knew I was legal,” said Graham.

This the second time in two weeks Maggie went with a relative to a private lot asking a driver on duty why the car got towed.

The lot claims they didn’t see the sticker.

The relative can see the placard in the passenger seat.

“The apartment complex knew she was legit, they knew she was legit, you can look I just took a picture of it before we walked up to the car, you can look in and see it,” said a relative of Graham’s.

Another tenant from the same woodland pines complex had her vehicle towed from a handicap spot.

Yasmine Tucker said, “Mine was not displayed I will own that, but I told him I have a handicap card to prove it, to prove I am the owner of that handicap sticker for my blind son. And he said it doesn’t matter you have to pay me the $202 anyway.”

Maggie says her placard has been torn by the mirror, so she doesn’t hang it.

Both tenants say an expensive tow should depend on whether their placards are easily visible or not. They say the tow truck drivers should have a list of license plates to verify they can legally park in these spots.

Heartland and Tow Pro’s owner Joe Livingston declined a recorded interview but says, “If you can’t put your handicap placard up it’s not my fault. Your handicap placard has to be visible at all times like it says in the law. We took pictures.”

“Two weeks ago, they towed my car the very same car I’m sitting in right now, they towed it and they should have known from two weeks ago that I was legal,” said Graham.

The total of two tow-aways in two weeks with storage costs $479. On a fixed income, Maggie says she borrowed from relatives to get her car back.

“No more towing, it will stay taped to my dashboard,” said Graham.

The vehicle owner filed a police report and a complaint with the city prosecutor to investigate if tow laws were followed.

The tow company owner hung up before we could ask him that question.

The property manager for Woodland Pines says Heartland Recovery does have permission to come into the parking lot and tow from handicap spots if there’s no handicapped sticker.

RESOURCE LINK

Admin Added Note: These type of articles are what cause regulations to be put in place. Were the vehicles towed legally, I think the majority of us know they were as the placards were not legally displayed. Laying on the seat, floorboard even the dash is not legal. In most states the placard must be visible. I find many simply do not want to hang the placard each time the park and it is illegal to drive with the placard displayed as it can block a drivers vision. What is your experience and do you think PPI companies should consider such controversies when conducting such Private Property Impounds. If I were still back doing PPI's I would want to run under the radar almost stealth like. The less attention the better.

[GRUMPS The Towman]

This is where I always seem fuzzy on these subjects. Are these property owners allowing tow companies to "monitor and enforce" their lots? 

Here that would be considered predatory towing. We need a second party such as the owner, manager, security or p.d. to determine if a vehicle is illegally parked then call us to remove it. Basically, the law doesnt allow us to be Judge, jury and executioner. We are just the executioner Which I feel helps take a bit of the heat of an angry customer off of us. When they are informed that we dont just drive around snatching cars, that someone had to call us they usually calm down a bit. 

As far as the handicap placard, the law clearly states here that if it is not PROPERLY displayed by hanging from the rearview mirror then It is considered NOT DISPLAYED. Even if it is sitting on the seat, dash or console So therefore, the vehicle can be towed for a handicap violation.

[rreschran]

My opinion is simple ... Anytime you mess with ANYTHING having to do with ADA, there's chance of repercussions. Unless there's a cop the ptibate property scene, I'll personally stay away from H/Cap impounds. There's always another car to tow and H/Cap tows can be problematic AND expensive.  Bye the way, tell Maggie that her blue cane isn't applicable under ADA sticker and placcard laws.     R 

[someotherplace]

It is the vehicle operator's legal responsibility to display a valid handicap placard when parked in a marked handicap space.  Bottom line.

 

Whether on public OR private property (I've seen it happen on private property!) a cop with a burr in his saddle would be happy to give them a ticket that costs more than an impound in most places.

 

It's not the tow operator's responsibility to maintain a list, physical, electronic, or mental, of everyone on every property they work at that has a valid handicap placard in the event they fail to display it.  I WILL say that I personally have a very good memory and have often skipped cars that I recognized as my "regulars" in those spaces on the odd occasion they forgot to hang their placard.  That doesn't save them on my night off though and the sub driver comes through and loads them up.

 

Regardless of how the violator came to the attention of the tow company, they are still parked in violation.  Many people happily (or angrily) call in and snitch because they want the spot.  Or, they've been towed and want to see another violator towed.  I've even seen a property manager (erroneously) call in a tow for someone in a handicap space with a paper temporary license plate - that they, and the rookie driver that went to load it, overlooked the fact that it was a genuine DV (disabled veteran) temporary tag that matched the metal permanent plate they had on order for their new car.

 

All that said, if the storage lot attendant is available to walk WITH the vehicle's operator to their car to witness with their own eyes a valid placard in plain sight, it would be an excellent goodwill gesture for the tow company to release the vehicle free of charge.  Under any other circumstances, no way.  Too many people will think they can sneak in a borrowed placard and place it in the vehicle when they go to retrieve their insurance paperwork/etc.  They try it all the time.

 

Richard

[rreschran]

Great comments Richard, except for reference to your suggestion to, "release free of charge". If the tow company holds the lot attendant, security guard or the property representative accountable for repeated mistakes, due dilligence will cut incidents of mistakes down. Once in awhile is OK.

I salute your judgement and willingness to apease the customer or account. If that becomes a habit of making mistakes, they need to go to school.

 

Like anything else in this industry, when it's done according to the prevailing law, then it's justifiable in court. For towers who go outside the law and create short-cuts or hollywood-like moves, good luck when it comes time to be judged in court.     R.