Carnage

There seems to be a bit of a money making racket, in the form of towing cars, that’s suddenly emerged in Cape Town. Two of my friend’s JP and Bevan both had their cars towed in consecutive day’s.

JP was the first victim and while we were having a really awesome dinner as a big group, last night. A massive tow truck rocked up in front of the restaurant to pick up his vehicle. He saw them trying to do this, and as he quickly ran out to confront them and persuade them to leave it alone, just give him the fine; rather than having to inconvenience him to be without transport and having to arrange to fetch it at the impound. They said it was impossible…I’m uncertain how it is impossible not to NOT tow a vehicle. Perhaps it escapes my simple mind, but it seems quite simple actually. Instead of lifting it, they could have just left it and given him a ticket.

The rest of our evening was spent on our quest to free JP’s vehicle. When we arrived at the impound we realized why it was “impossible”. On top of the R500 fine, there is an additional R800 release charge that needs to be paid.

In all the excitement poor La Devine misplaced the keys to her car. Trying to retrace our steps we searched high and low for them, we even checked close to where she had parked; unfortunately this happened in the rain and at 2 in the morning, tired and soaked we gave up. A Locksmith had to be called early in the morning to sort things out, I’ve actually saved the number onto my phone now…as you never know when you might need a good locksmith.

This morning, Bevan hardly even having been parked in a loading bay area for too long, on a weekend mind you, also had his car towed. After enquiring at the impound it seems that recently between 40-80 vehicles have been towed daily…now lets do the math here if you are towing between 40-80 vehicles a day at a fine of R500 and a release charge of R800 (sounds like one of those crazy math problems you used to get when you were at school doesn’t it?) that would mean the people responsible for towing (I hear that the towing department has been privatized) are bringing in between R52000 and R104000 a day just on towing vehicles…quite a lucrative little business methinks.

This post serves as a warning to be extra careful while parking in the Greenpoint, Seapoint areas, as it seems like someone out there is finding any excuse to make a quick buck.