Would this be considered illegal towing practice

if that had been my truck i would have just drove it away, the container being held in lieu of payment, understandable.

 

You would need to contact a RI attorney to get a "legal" response on any suit involving a RI company.

 

I seem to remember something about it being illegal to retain freight for payment. You should have had the right to offload the trailer to a rental.

 

A crooked tow truck driver ????

I never......

 

They basically stole your truck. The cops are the only ones who could say "We're having that vehicle towed." Some random guy walking up to you and saying he's going to tow it makes no sense.

He can't hold a #### thing that he doesn't have. He'd have to tow it first to have it. Since he hadn't yet towed anything, he had no right to any of it, or payment for it. I would have run him off and had another company recover the trailer. Nobody just takes my truck from me other than the owner of the truck.

 

Did Heavy Duty Towing for awhile and we did have the right to take the vehicle if not paid when done.
We took them loaded or empty if the company or insurance did not settle when we were done with whatever recovery we had to do.
The insurance company should have made arangements to pay it, or you could have covered it and got it back from them.
With companies being from other states it gets complicated trying to collect so the law allows it.
If it was an accident there was most likely a cop right there who would not have let it happen if it were not legal.
Many Drivers got irate when told I needed payment or to take the truck, the officer usually handled that arguement and explained it.
If the load is perishable (ie reefer) we were to keep fuel in it to be sure it stayed running. Dry loads only required safe storage until released.
Even when going to a shop, if we did not know the company or bill it to the shop we would take it to the yard unless paid before dropping it.

 

And charge storage for each unit until the insurance company finally pays! We have ransomed the units & freight to get the freight delivered.

 

Im not a lawer, but dont think he can legally take your truck if its road worthy, unless you want them to, to be fooled, call a different tow company