Perth’s ‘cowboy’ tow truck industry to be regulated, see prices capped in Government crackdown
Perth’s ‘cowboy’ tow truck industry will finally face tough regulations including police checks on drivers and price caps in a State Government crackdown.
Announcing the heavily delayed laws on Thursday, Assistant Transport Minister David Michael said he expected the laws to pass before the end of the year, despite Labor’s legislative backlog.
Under the new laws, towing in the Perth and Peel regions would see prices capped for tows in a 50km range — expected to be set at around $450 — and storage fees set at a $30 day rate.
Spotter’s fees — payments for people who report crashes to towing companies — will also be banned.
Tow truck drivers, who have faced accusations of predatory behaviour in forcing drivers out of their cars as well as criminal links to bikie gangs, will now face a fit and proper person test.
They will also be required to undergo a National Police Clearance.
“We’ve seen some terrible behaviour in the crash towing industry over the last couple of years including excessive charging for towing and storage of crashed damaged vehicles, predatory industry behaviour, targeting vulnerable consumers, crash scenes, and we’ve been seeing physical altercations between tow truck drivers fighting for work on our freeways and our roads,” Mr Michael said.
Camera IconGEN State Parliament. Minister Assisting the Transport Minister David Michael. Iain Gillespie Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West Australian
Originally proposed more than two years ago, Mr Michael defended the delay in introducing the laws.
“This is a full new regulation of the towing industry. The legislation and explanation documents are well over 200 pages,” he said.
“Again, because of those links, potentially with organised crime and some of that behaviour was seen, we really needed to get it right.
“My sincere hope is we will (pass them before the end of the year) and as soon as we’ve got them passed, one of the provisions will come in straight away, which will be the banning of spotters fee.
“Hopefully by the end of the year, we’ll have some regulations in there we’ll set those maximum caps fees for storage charges and for towing to crash vehicles, and then into next year.”
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