Towing a Disabled Person's Vehicle at the Hospital

[Guitar Nigel]

My question involves a traffic citation from the state of: California

A friend took my wife to the hospital for a procedure relating to her Parkinson Disease and parked the car (with disabled placard in plain view) at the hospital. Actually, in the street in front of the hospital.

When they came out, the car was gone. After asking around, they found someone that said some car was towed. I finally traced the car down. It will be $349 to the police dept and another $320 for the towing company. Total of $669.

The registration is expired because it needs smogging. It will be a major expense, over $1,000 so I paid the DMV fees but haven't gotten the $$ to get it smogged yet. That is why it was towed, expired registration. I get that. It just seems that an auto with handicap placard, at a hospital, is a crummy place to be towing vehicles.

Couldn't they have just issued a citation and left it on the window?

Is there any recourse other than paying the fees?

Nigel

[Mr. Knowitall]

Recourse for what? It was a legal tow.

"Could they" have not towed the vehicle. Certainly. But they did tow it, and that's how the story goes.

[Guitar Nigel]

I paid the fines today. Lots of people were mad and yelling at the women behind the glass, both at the police station and the tow yard. I just kept my mouth shut and paid it.

It was a legal tow but a ticket would have been a better way to handle it. It's tough enough on a person but it really puts a disabled person in a tight spot.

Nigel

[That Guy]

I paid the fines today. Lots of people were mad and yelling at the women behind the glass, both at the police station and the tow yard.

No one is ever happy that their car was towed... So I wouldn't expect a lot of smiles and "thank yous" at the police station and especially at the tow yard!

It was a legal tow but a ticket would have been a better way to handle it. It's tough enough on a person but it really puts a disabled person in a tight spot.

The authority to tow a vehicle for expired registration is predicated upon that vehicle registration being expired for 6 months or longer, and frankly if that was the case here, that is a LONG time to operate a vehicle in violation of the code. It would have made more sense to hire a cab to get to the hospital. You say a citation would have been better, well, it could have been a tow AND a citation... So your scenario wasn't the absolute worst!

[cbg]

It was a legal tow but a ticket would have been a better way to handle it

In your opinion. Clearly those who towed it (and ordered the tow) had a different opinion.