Hundreds of charges laid in GTA towing industry

Was Lyons auto body and tow truck in Mississauga included in the charges?

dang, serious biz towing is...........

Regulate these scammers already!!!

Do not "nationalize" the towing industry, we are not a socialist country and we need to let the free market work. The government 9 times out of 10 are super in-efficient and tax payers on the hook for the inflated costs and pensions. The government is even losing money on cannabis sales, something that 18 year old kids make a fortune at. Get government out of our lives, sure they can make the rules and police need to enforce the laws, but running companies is not be in the public interest. Some caveats of course like health care, but get out of the way in most other businesses.

Its about damn time...

Were any cops part of the arrests? if not then the scam stays alive and well and this is just to throw the people a bone.

Netflix should pick this up and turn it into a series ala Tiger King

About friggin' time. I work with these jokers daily and I can't believe how bad the industry is (especially in the GTA). They need to just limit specific companies to specific regions, and set the rates. The number of these guys running around that don't have the proper insurance, trucks won't pass inspection, fist fights over who is "first at scene," not to mention the fact that these bozos brazenly carry and threaten each other with weapons...

Insurance companies have money to have their own tow truck and body shop. How much money would they save by not getting scammed every day by using their own towing truck to tow their customers car to their own bodyshop?

Even if many people prefer to have their car towed to shop of their choice, 50% of accident just get picked off by these vultures. Even if insurance co manage to get these 50% cars, that would save lot of money imo. Aviva for example send all their cars to carstar for appraisal and most people will repair their car their. Only thing for them to get rid of is the middle man tow truck drivers intercepting and sending cars to lyons.

It's always interesting for me to see 'chaser' tow trucks around the GTA arrive on accident scenes faster than police, paramedics and fire trucks.

Municipalities provide tow truck license, one would hope government would actually review and qualify the applicants accordingly. Police really need to crack down on bodyshops giving cash kickbacks to tow truck drivers.

Ballroomblitz1 wrote: ↑ Do not "nationalize" the towing industry, we are not a socialist country and we need to let the free market work. The government 9 times out of 10 are super in-efficient and tax payers on the hook for the inflated costs and pensions. The government is even losing money on cannabis sales, something that 18 year old kids make a fortune at. Get government out of our lives, sure they can make the rules and police need to enforce the laws, but running companies is not be in the public interest. Some caveats of course like health care, but get out of the way in most other businesses.

So you are saying let the vultures rip off the public because its free enterprise?.

Piro21 wrote: ↑ Nationalize the towing industry. There's no reason it can't be run by the city as a division of the police or as another general city department. Deregulation and private contracting has lead to nothing but dangerous driving and crime.

Ya that is what we need another government agency .

sunnykw2305 wrote: ↑ It's always interesting for me to see 'chaser' tow trucks around the GTA arrive on accident scenes faster than police, paramedics and fire trucks.

Municipalities provide tow truck license, one would hope government would actually review and qualify the applicants accordingly. Police really need to crack down on bodyshops giving cash kickbacks to tow truck drivers.

They will drive on sidewalks, curbs, highway shoulder to rush to the most vulnerable vehicles. So many times I see these trucks speed on the side of the 400 series highways on the shoulder, or make a left from the middle lane in their giant lifted tow trucks.

I upvoted on post title alone.

Having lived in various provinces and countries... GTA towing industry is worst by far.

cheapmeister wrote: ↑ Was Lyons auto body and tow truck in Mississauga included in the charges?

I pray...

But the article reads:"the charges announced on Tuesday were laid back in March but many of them were laid on May 20 after police executed search warrants at 21 different locations in Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Hamilton, Oakville, Toronto, Aurora and East Gwillimbury."

No Mississauga!!

I suspect what happened here was the cops helped Lyons take care of their competition... now Lyons has a monopoly, and it's business as usual.

coriolis wrote: ↑ They will drive on sidewalks, curbs, highway shoulder to rush to the most vulnerable vehicles. So many times I see these trucks speed on the side of the 400 series highways on the shoulder, or make a left from the middle lane in their giant lifted tow trucks.

Somehow we come to accept this as normal. I hope they can shut some of them down.