Sam Isaacs
Contributing Writer
What started out as a routine trip to Croutons, Salads and Wraps for VCU student Hilary Hambrick ended up being the most expensive wrap she’s ever bought.
“I parked my car in the Panera parking lot and walked across the street. I was gone for maybe ten minutes, and my car was on a tow truck and they were leaving,” she said.
Hambrick chased down the truck and payed $135 on the spot instead of walking or driving the 3.3 miles to a USA Towing Inc. lot at 4505 W. Broad St. to get it back.
Unlike other cities like Detroit and Philadelphia, Richmond does not have a centralized towing agency that handles the city’s towing. Richmond’s setup, where private towing companies are contracted by the city, is something students have expressed frustration with.
Lem Calliste, another VCU student, recently had his car towed for the first time, from an apartment parking lot on Grace Street. He paid $135 to pick his vehicle up from another lot on West Broad.
“I think it needs to be more organized. It’s really rough because all the towing lots are really far away and you are always paying different prices,” Calliste said.
However, according to Richmond’s 2nd District Councilman Charles Samuels, towing in Richmond is heavily regulated by the city, which holds all private agents to strict pricing and operating standards.
“There is a difference between towing on private property and towing off public property,” he said. “On private property, tow trucks can tow up to a certain amount that the City Council and city administration recommends it allows.”
In 2010 the overall prices of towing were raised to $95 for a public offense and $125 for a private offense under a new city ordinance. A public offense entails a car violating a city-wide parking mandate and a private offense is a violation of a privately-owned lot in which the owner can call to have the vehicle towed.
The price and distance aren’t the only things that irk students about towing.
Hambrick said coming across her car being towed was alarming and confusing, and could lead to a dangerous situation.
“It’s late at night, I’m a girl and I’m by myself with two other girls. With all the crime alerts this semester, I just wanted to do whatever it took to get my car back,” she
said in regards to her towing experience earlier this month. The lot that her car would have been towed to is 18 minutes away from Laurel and Grace Place by bus or about an hour on foot, according to Google Maps.
Melvin Lawson, general manager of Seibert’s Towing, said if a car has been hooked, but not moved from its original spot, a fee of up to $30 can get the vehicle
released. He also stated that releasing a car on-the-spot is judged on a case-by-case basis by tow truck drivers, or officers.
“An officer has the option of releasing the vehicle to the owner as a ‘release on-scene’ during the process of loading. The decision to release the vehicle or have it
towed lies with the officer, not the tow company,” he said.
Though towing can be extremely frustrating, those who regulate the policies are fully aware of the challenges of Richmond parking.
“I’ve got VCU and we have a lot of restaurants (in my district), so there is a lot of towing that can occur, plus normal citywide things like street cleaning,” Samuels said about some of the things that can make parking difficult for students and residents in the 2nd district.
All of the information regarding Richmond towing procedures can be found publicly via the City of Richmond Code of Ordinances, section 102-326 and at the website for the Virginia Board of Towing and Recovery Operators for further information regarding state regulations.
For information on the towing policies visit http://www.btro.vi.virginia.gov/