I thought the article pretty well concluded that this was a mix-up, that the tow company hadn't ever been told to stop patrolling the area? Which is why the tow company won't be punished? (except, of course, by being banished to hell in your mind)

Oregon can end these predatory patrol towing practices forever by adopting laws enacted in other states that require the property owner or his agent to be present at the time of the tow and sign the invoice.

This step would have prevented both Retreiver and Sergeant's from towing my car out of my own driveway four times!

The fact that these tow drivers are paid on a bonus or commission system explains the wide degrees of latitude they extend to themselves in determining which vehicles are tow-worthy.

You can see the photos of Sergeant's forest of illegal McCall's signs at www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com. I took these the day after Mr. Meier's van was heisted.

42 illegal, wrongful tows from McCall's since January; this will make for a nice class action suit for the victims.

Don't count on the predatory patrol towers to "get it" afterwards; they are following their tried and true business model, illegal as it is in other states.

This is only one of the many scams in and around Portland. Twice (once in Lake Oswego and once at Bridgeport Village) our cars were given $900 tickets for parking in a handicapped place. We wouldn't object except that my wife is handicapped and has a lifetime handicap permit prominently displayed in her car (or whatever car we happen to be driving). The new scam is that "volunteers" patrol lots like those in Bridgeport or other locales and write tickets (on the authority of whatever jurisdiction they happen to be in) for improper parking in a handicapped space. Twice we've been "tagged" because my wife doesn't "look" handicapped. We've had to fight these tickets and even though we win in the end, the jurisdictions always extract a $20 "administrative fee" for processing the claim. Multiply that fee over the large number of citations issued and each county has some largesse not due them. Only in Oregon would the state permit "volunteers" to patrol lots and issue tickets.

this is the only complaint that we had," Gaylord said. "Unless people contact us, we have no way of knowing who they are.

Doesnt the tow company keep records of license numbers for cars they tow? Would be odd if they didnt.

I thought the article pretty well concluded that this was a mix-up, that the tow company hadn't ever been told to stop patrolling the area?

The problem is that this is a regular occurrence in this area. These tow companies regularly patrol apartment complexes and tow cars that dont have a visible permit as well.

"Oregon can end these predatory patrol towing practices forever by adopting laws enacted in other states that require the property owner or his agent to be present at the time of the tow and sign the invoice."

Didn't the legislature adopt such a law last year? Or did that apply only to apartment complexes and other rental housing?

Mike: SB 431 and SB 116 didn't go quite that far (to require the property owner's or owner's agent's presence), due to the vigorous pushback from the commercial property owner lobby and the patrol towers.

There are other provisions of the new laws that the towers are not complying with and that municipalities are not enforcing, among them: Towers must post on their signs the actual dollar amounts a vehicle owner would have to pay if towed; apartment owners and managers MUST provide the actual dollar amount information to all tenants, and update all tenants whenever the prices or terms change.

The real issue here is criminal car theft.

Why aren't these thieves in jail?

One thing this article is mission out on is the actual scammy outfit of thugs that is Sergeant's towing. This is were my car ended up after it was stolen and then abandoned. It would be a very long story to explain how long it took and how many hoops we had to jump through just to inspect the car, let alone get it back.

$600, several visits and multiple wasted hours later, we got what was left of my car back.

Because the the horrible way that we were treated, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the stuff stolen from the car was stolen by the Sergeant himself.