One recent example: the city housing project known as the Habitations Jeanne Mance has 150 parking spots, which they rent out subsidized housing tenants for $5 a month.
There are about 20 spaces advertised on a sign on Ontario St, however, that the public can use if they pay by putting coins into a meter. If a driver mistakenly puts his car into a the wrong spot in the parking lot, the SBM Remorquage a vos frais tow truck company quickly hauls it off.
When a motorist returns, he can recover his car by phoning a number posted on the sign. Coolopolis has received a detailed report of one recent incident in which the tow truck driver asked for $95 up front in order to reveal the location of where the car was towed. The tow truck driver said it had been a busy night and at least five others had been towed that evening from the same lot.
The motorist complained but paid the $95.
SBM Remorquage a vos frais manager Mario Bergeron told Coolopolis that company policy is to offer the motorist a choice of paying up front or receiving a bill in the mail and he said that he had received no complaint about the issue.Such companies will insist that they didn't demand cash up front, as the penalties for doing so are very severe, so a recording-device could come in very handy in such moments.
A rep from the Habitations Jeanne Mance subsidized housing project eventually returned a message and confirmed that the SBM frequently tows cars from the site upon call and that the housing project does not pay them for the service.
In fact, drivers have absolutely no obligation to pay cash up front to get their car back, or even show identification to a tow truck company employee.
Here is a link, in French, that I would highly recommend that you bookmark on your smartphone, as you will need it in a particular situation.
It was provided to Coolopolis by the local police and I have roughly translated it below:
For many years towing companies have caused misery to drivers who park their cars on private property without permission from those responsible for the land.
In many instances the towing company refused to return their owners without paying the towing and other costs up front.
This practice lasted until November 5, 1992 when the Supreme Court of Canada ended the judicial saga launched five years earlier by Contempra Investments, LTD, better known as Remorquage Quebecois a vos frais. By refusing to hear the appeal lodged by the company, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision that concluded that towing companies have no right to hold a car that they towed. Since then, no tow truck driver or parking lot owner can can demand immediate payment before returning a car to his owner. They now only have the right to return the car and give a bill that the motorist can pay in due course.
The towing companies have since modernized their practice. These days rather than towing a car to a garage, the cars are parked, often illegally, on a nearby street. When the owner doesn't see his car, he dials a number on a sign.
A clerk comes invites the owner his identify his car and demands cash to tell him where his car is hidden.
This is also illegal.
Owners of private property have the right to remove a car from their land. It's a right that cannot be abused however, for example, the car cannot be towed to the other side of town.
The driver who parked without permission of the owner has committed a civil infraction and should, in theory, pay for the costs of towing that he has incurred.
Back when they would bring the cars to a lot, the towing company could ask for identification because they need to return the vehicle to the correct person. The towing company then took the name and address for the purposes of billing as well.
However now that cars are simply displaced into city streets, the towing company cannot claim to be the guardian of the vehicle.
The motorist could simply walk around and find the car himself, as it's usually parked nearby. Nothing in the law authorizes towing staff to ask the car owners for identification. The towing company staff does not have the right to refuse to reveal the location of the vehicle even after the person has refused to show identification.
Obviously the towing companies complain that they'll never make their money back if they don't know the owner of the vehicle. That's one of the downside of this business unfortunately.
Article 45 of the Montreal's Reglement sur la ciruclation and security publique bans people from parking without permission on private properties. An officer can fine a motorist who does this but cannot reveal the identity of that motorist to an employee of the towing company.
A towing company that refuses to tell a motorist where his car is located without up-front payment or demands identification can be deemed in contravention of the Reglement sur le remorquague des vehicules en stationnement ou en arret interdit (RRVM c. R-4) as well as the law on recovering certain goods. (LRQ c. R-2.2.)
The first one prohibits a tow company to move a car more than 5 km away and fixes towing costs at $50. They can add a maximum cost of $10 per day for storage and obliges parking lot owners to install clear indications on signs.
Towing company owner Robert Salois challenged the city's bylaw but the Supreme Court upheld it in 1994.
So an tow truck employee contravening the law can be fined as can the business, between $100 to $1,000. The fines increase upon further offence.
The law on recovering certain goods is a provincial law preventing anybody from using unusual methods to recover their debts, outlawing behaviour that is "harassing, threatening or intimidating."
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| SBM towing sits on Bridge just south of Wellington |
To apply that law, the motorist must make a complain with the office of consumer protection.
Employees can be fined between $300 and $6,000 when the complainant is a person and $1,00 to $40,000 when the accused is a corporation. Fines double upon recurrence.
A tow company or employee who refuses to reveal the location of a car can be accused of intimidation and mischief. (art. 423 1 d c cr. art. 430 c.cr) or even of theft (art. 322 c.cr).
Demanding immediate payment can be considered a contravention of article 423. He can also be charged under 430 when he refuses to reveal where the car is located.
There are many court judgements from around the province recounting horror stories that people have suffered at the hands of towing companies. A couple of people have had goods stolen from within their car after it was towed indoors and one even said that she went a whole year without ever finding out what happened to her car.
I once had my car towed about 10 years ago from a lot downtown and when it was brought to an indoor lot on Young St., the company refused to release it without immediate payment. I called the police and they forced the company to return my vehicle and send me the bill. "Tell them to send you the bill and then don't pay it," I heard a cop say, or perhaps I imagined it. Either way, it was good advice.