CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Cynthia Baker couldn’t believe her driver was booted while inside the cab of his truck. Then she was told how much it would cost to remove the chains.
“It was like extortion, it was like highway robbery, a scam in the middle of the night,” said Baker, who owns Ohio Valley Transport out of Tennessee. “And it shouldn’t be that in America over a parking spot.”
Baker says Carolina’s Towing demanded $3,000 to remove the boot. When she couldn’t pay on the spot, the truck was towed, she said, and the price jumped to $5,000.
“They said, ‘We could do up to $10,000, what are you going to do about it?’” she says she was told, “It’s ridiculous.”
She admits her driver was in the wrong and didn’t see posted warning signs at a lot at the Citgo gas station on Beatties Ford Road. But she questions why the amount was so high, especially during this time, and wants to know why the tow truck company didn’t just ask her driver to move.
“In 30 years I’ve never seen people so disrespectful to others and been able to do something like this,” she said. “I’ve never had that happen before, ever.”
Baker eventually paid the $5,000 but included a message of protest on the paperwork writing: “Boot on Truck (Dumb!!)”
She says the whole ordeal makes her “very angry” because of how hard her drivers are working and feels the amount charged is excessive.
For weeks, FOX 46 has heard complaints of overly aggressive towing companies appearing to target truckers. Many are in the Queen City for relief work. The State Attorney General’s Office is investigating seven complaints of predatory towing in Charlotte.
“It seems like the reason for this is you don’t have a lot of traffic out there for these guys to make their normal money with,” said Rick Lyles, who owns National Freight in Charlotte. “So, I guess they’re resorting to picking on the trucking industry thinking we have deep pockets. We really don’t.”
The problem goes back to 2014 when the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled cities can’t cap how much trucking companies can charge to tow on private lots. Lyles says that has resulted in escalating, and outrageous, fees.
Last week, his driver was booted and towed after stopping to get food and take a nap at a shopping center on South Tryon.
“To us, it was no reason, it wasn’t valid,” said Lyles. “It was just predatory.”
Like Baker, he too had to pay $5,000 to get his truck back.
"$5,000 is a lot of money,” he said. “Gosh, that’s payroll for a whole week.”
FOX 46 is working to get results. We reached out to the owner of Carolina’s Towing, who promised to look into these complaints and others that we brought to their attention.
For now, these truckers want to warn others to watch where they park.
“I hope that somebody can hear this,” said Baker, “and make sure that they don’t park in the wrong spot.”
