In this September 2007 file photo, a man looks inside a taxi cab that was on a wrecker in Half-Way Tree. The police and representatives of the Transport Authority went on an operation to apprehend illegal motor vehicles in the Corporate Area.

Three weeks ago, driving an unmarked company vehicle, this reporter parked along Dominica Drive, New Kingston, in the vicinity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, locked the car doors and walked away. I was on a mission to test if the proper procedures were being followed in the impounding of vehicles that were parked in prohibited zones.

Shortly after, a blue wrecker truck was seen coming from the direction of Chelsea Avenue. At the same time a pick-up truck with an odd looking contraption hoisted on its back, raced from the opposite direction. There were no traffic wardens in sight.

The blue truck won the sprint and reached my car first, so the pick-up truck drove away with a crew member shouting expletives at his victorious rivals, who, by then, were positioning the wrecker to tow my car.

"Why are you taking up this car? I asked, while walking towards them. "Me just a do mi work, big man," a crew member said impatiently.

In no time the front of the car, with the rear wheels on the ground, was heaved unto the rear of the wrecker. "Where is the traffic warden that should be with you?" I asked.

Offering payment

There was no answer.

When I asked where they were taking the car, the driver responded, "All I can tell you is that the pound doesn't open on Saturdays and Sundays, so is Monday before you get back this."

I then offered to pay him the wrecker fee in an attempt to regain the car, but he told me that while he was willing to accept the money, he would have to drive away as if he is going to the pound. He advised me to meet him along Slipe Pen Road in the vicinity of the Blood Bank, warning that if I took too long to arrive the deal was off.

On arrival at Slipe Pen Road I asked how much was the fee. The wrecker driver told me $5000, but he was willing to accept $3000. I gave him $2,700.

When The Sunday Gleaner related the incident to Acting Town Clerk Lincoln Evans he explained: "The fact that the incident took place at 4:15 p.m. explains why no KSAC traffic warden was with them (wrecker crew). They would normally come off the road by about 3:30 or 4 o'clock.,"

He explained that after 4:30 p.m. the KSAC's pound only accepts vehicles taken in by the police, but said that he was not surprised that the wrecker operator demanded payment.

"They know the pound will not accept it, but they still tow the car, expecting the vehicle owner to pay them off," stated Evans.