Trucking company protests $15,000 tow from Seawall

cajuntrucker59

Well Known Smart Azz
GALVESTON-Talk about parking problems.

A truck driver working for Mike Matthews dropped his trailer at the
end of Seawall boulevard last week before heading to a motel. He
awoke the next morning to discover the trailer gone and that a local
towing company was charging his boss $13,333.00 per mile.

"Who has $40,000 bucks?" ask Matthews, owner of Wellco Tank
Trucks of Dover, Oklahoma.

The tow truck operator disputes Matthews version, but city council
members were so concerned about what they viewed as an
excessive fee that they want to take another look at the city
ordinance governing towing fees.

A&A Wrecking Service owner Noel Anderwald denied charging
$40,000 or demanding that it be paid in cash, saying that he initially
charged Matthews $21,000 to tow the vehicle three miles and negotiated
the fee to $15,000.

Anderwald said the fees are honest, but Matthews says he has never paid that much money for a tow in the eighteen years he's operated his company.

"This is extoration," Matthews said.

A $30,000 HIT:

The dispute arose after a driver working for Matthews hauled a 240,000 pound bulldozer from Kansas City to Galveston to be loaded aboard a ship and sent to a Jordanian purchaser.

The driver arrived late the night of November 8 and parked the trailer and bulldozer
at the end of Seawall Boulevard. He unhitched the trailer and drove to a motel.

He found the trailer gone the next morning and discovered that A&A wanted $40,000 for the tow, according to Matthews.

Matthews says he negotiated with a woman in Anderwald's office for four days before finally agreeing to wire $15,000 to the towing company.

The delay caused the bulldozer to miss the ship and it is now sitting on a Galveston dock, he said. He won't get paid for the haul and the episode will cost him $30,000.

SUIT IS PLANNED:

Anderwald said he made Matthews sign a document promising not to sue A&A or the city. Matthews says he is going to sue anyway.

Matthews has already complained to mayor Joe Jaworski and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which regulates the towing industry.

Robin Moten, assistant program manager for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, said the tow happened inside the city and therefore the city ordinance trumps state regulations.

The Galveston ordinance allows the towing company to negotiate the fee if the police rule the tow to be exceptional. Moten said A&A and police officials told her that the tow fell into a special category. Police asked that the trialer be towed because it was a safety hazard.

Anderwald argued that the tow needed special attention because the bulldozer wasn't loaded correctly and that he had to unload the bulldozer and disassemble the trailer so it would fit in his wrecking yard.

SOURCE: houstonchronicle.com
 

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