Towing firms arriving unannounced on the scene of an accident solely to do some shady shit appears to be a recurring theme. It’s the right grift sadly and it’s occurred once more, this time to an enormous rig driver within the Windy Metropolis, as Chicago’s WGN9 studies.
On January 18, large rig driver Steven Yonan hit a viaduct in his semi and overturned the truck. Authorities, together with an ambulance, arrived on the scene of the accident. A tow truck additionally confirmed up, and Yonan couldn’t get any information out of them. “They mentioned, ‘We don’t give a value. We don’t know the way a lot it will likely be, you should contact our dispatch,’” Yonan informed WGN.
Now, over every week after the accident, the tow firm, referred to as Emergency Towing & Restoration, is holding Yonan’s truck and charging him $41,000 to get it again. Worse but, Yonan claims that, in paperwork shared with WGN, the corporate cast his signature on the bill. All of that is made even worse by the truth that the corporate that towed the truck doesn’t appear to be a tow firm in any respect, as a rep for Yonan’s trucking firm defined to WGN.
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“From what I perceive they don’t even have tow vans,” mentioned Junior Smith of Cartage Specialists, the corporate Yonan drives for. “They’re simply guys who run round with police scanners, get on the scene, lock you down, then they begin calling in individuals, like Official Towing was one of many vans that confirmed up.”
The corporate engaged in some shady exercise after towing the rig. The precise proprietor of the truck, a person named Ledmon Yousif, mentioned that they drained over 150 gallons of diesel gas from the truck and separated the trailer from the cab, one thing he says he has footage of to show. WGN tried to get data on Emergency Towing & Restoration as Yousif mentioned they wouldn’t return his calls; a name the quantity was met with a “quantity disconnected” dial tone.
WGN went to their alleged tackle and located an unmarked impound lot that was gated and locked with nobody round to query. Official Towing — the tow truck that really arrived on the scene — was found to have been fined 4 occasions within the final three years for numerous violations. The plot thickened when it was found that Emergency Towing — which is listed on the bill — hasn’t even existed lengthy. The corporate was simply registered with the workplace of Illinois’ Secretary of State originally of the month.
Cartage Specialists has now filed a grievance with the Illinois Commerce Fee hoping to get the truck again. However as a rep for the corporate identified to WGN, they’re on a good timetable as the corporate needs to keep away from getting charged any extra charges. “Time is of the essence, that’s our greatest concern. Is that after we do resolve this they’re going to come back again and say, ‘You owe us one other $10,000 in storage charges.’ We simply don’t know the way it’s going to play out.”