CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Starting Monday, it’s illegal to boot commercial vehicles in North Carolina under the Commercial Vehicle and Cargo Protection Act.
The new law comes after years of WBTV investigations into booting and towing practices. Booting commercial motor vehicles for parking enforcement is now a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Tow truck companies that tow tractor trailers will also be required to return any commercial cargo towed.
Right up until the law took effect, truckers and small businesses were contacting WBTV, claiming they were charged thousands of dollars to remove boots placed by tow truckers.
Employees for Carolina Site say they were doing roadwork in front of a new apartment complex on E Sugar Creek Road when they pulled into an empty gravel parking lot. They said they were blocking traffic while finishing construction and wanted to use the lot briefly to load equipment and clear the road.
“I sent my driver over here for a minute,” Ken and Leo, employees of Carolina Site said while recounting the story.
“And when he come over here and parked, the red tow truck, pulled in, stopped in front of him and jumped out and booted him while he was sitting here. Truck was still running, lights were on, he was just sitting there.”
The Carolina Site truck was booted Nov. 1. The company says it was charged $6,000 to remove the boot. Ken and Leo said the tow truck driver also threatened to tow the truck and charge more than $20,000 if they tried to fight the fee.
“He said it would cost us $27,000 to get it out of impound, that if we didn’t pay for the boots right, then they would impound,” Ken said.
The new booting ban law is designed to prevent situations exactly like this, according to North Carolina Trucking Association President Ben Greenberg.
“If a truck is not supposed to be parked there and folks want it moved, what does booting that truck accomplish?” Greenberg told WBTV earlier this year.
The team at Carolina Site said they were shocked by the entire situation and how powerless they felt to fight back.
“There was no one in the lot. There was no one,” Ken said.
“He (the Carolina Site driver) was not obstructing anyone and he was here for a total of three minutes,” Leo said.
“He didn’t care that we had a lane shut down and we have 15 guys out there. All he wanted was that $6,000,” Ken said.
Craig Gannaway, president of Carolina Site said the situation endangered his crews working in the dark on road paving.
“I was just flabbergasted by it because we do business in an ethical way and I assume other people deal like that,” Gannaway said.
State Representative Mike Schietzelt helped create the new booting law that aims to protect tractor trailer drivers and commercial vehicles from predatory booting.
“This should have a significant impact to make sure that cargo isn’t being unnecessarily delayed or unnecessarily held up,” Rep. Schietzelt said. “I would argue this would encompass any vehicle that’s being used for commercial purposes. So if it’s a paver or if it’s some other company truck or van, it’s going to be covered, I would, say under this booting law.”
Before the law was passed, the word “booting” didn’t exist in North Carolina statutes. The new law applies only to commercial vehicles, not personal cars.
Kristian Szendi, owner of Tip Towing, the company that booted Carolina Site’s truck, said he doesn’t recall the specific incident.
“We do quite a few boots and tows over the course of the month,” Szendi said. Szendi defended the company’s booting practices, claiming his drivers don’t sit outside of lots waiting for drivers to make a mistake.
“You can’t sit there and just walk up to everybody who’s in their car or leaves their car there and leave a note on it saying ‘don’t park here’ we’d be out of business,” Szendi said.
Regarding the new law, Szendi said his company will halt booting commercial vehicles. However, Szendi claimed he still has unanswered questions about which vehicles he can’t boot or immobilize under the new law.
“Until we get some clarity yes we will put a hold on booting commercial vehicles and all that stuff cause we don’t want to get in trouble,” he said.
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