The Illinois Commerce Commission says it is investigating to determine whether Lincoln Towing is fit to hold a license in the state. An online petition in Chicago calling for the company’s business license to be suspended picked up more than 2,800 signatures in one week. The Chicago City Council has historically debated taking actions against Lincoln Towing have also considered a call for hearings on regulating tow companies to prevent them from towing illegally.
On February 10, 2016, Aldermen Pawar and Reboyras introduced a City Council resolution citing “a pattern of illegal towing and abuse of customers by Lincoln Towing” — calling on company representatives to appear before the council. The resolutions also cited regulating tow companies to prevent illegal tows and other unsavory behaviors by towing operators. Representatives of the Illinois Commerce Commission, Chicago Police Department,
Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection, Towing Operators, including Lincoln Towing and Cook County Towing, appeared before a joint hearing of the Committees on Public Safety and License & Consumer Protection to discuss regulation of towing companies and to provide an opportunity for the City Council to assess the facts of the regulatory environment and inform an effort to improve regulations In Chicago to prevent illegal tows and other unsavory behaviors by towing operators.
Video: jeep driver drives off hoist of tow truck and drives away on the 0-99 block of West Erie Street, Chicago.
In March 2015, an example of unsavory behavior was caught on video, when a tow truck driver continued to drive when he allegedly knew a motorist was sitting in the driver’s seat of the towed vehicle.
Tony Marengo captured a video when he noticed a man was still in a Jeep while it was being towed down the street in the 0-99 block of West Erie Street. The CEO of Mac Tutor, a company that provides in-home support and instruction of Apple devices began capturing the incident on his Apple iPhone.
The driver of the Jeep was able to drive off the hoist on the back of the tow truck. Then he drove down Erie Street and turned left on Clark Street. Marengo uploaded the video to YouTube and in less than three days the video had over 1,074,000 views. On February 27, 2016 the video has over 2.7 million views.
DNAinfo’s Paul Biasco investigated the incident, and found that Victor Jaime of Edison Park was the driver of the white Jeep Wrangler. Hungry for Portillo’s, Victor Jaime and a friend parked in the Walgreens lot just east of the Portillo’s at Ontario and Clark. The two ran into the restaurant, leaving the Jeep running with a dog in the car. They came out minutes later, and the car was already hooked up with the dog inside. Jaime jumped into the Jeep as it was being towed away, and then the tow truck driver stopped just east of The Kerryman on Erie Street to hoist the Jeep up even further (he knew Jaime was in the Jeep). That was when Jaime drove off the hoist and drove the Jeep Wrangler westbound on Erie — saying he rescued his dog and his Jeep Wrangler from Lincoln Towing.
A song by the Steve Goodman described the business practices of Lincoln Towing as early as 1972 when the song was written. Complaints started as early as 1968.
Lincoln Park Pirates by Steve Goodman — Sony Music Entertainment.
See also …
DNAinfo Chicago Man Drove His Jeep Off Tow Truck in River North To Save His Dog, He Says
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Lincoln Towing on Clark Street just south of Foster Avenue almost 6 miles north of Portillo’s at Ontario and Clark.