New York City trying to sever ties with Runway Towing amid allegations of overcharging
NEW YORK -- There are allegations a towing company tasked with clearing some New York City highways is overcharging consumers.
As CBS2's Lisa Rozner reports, even the city wants to sever ties, but it can't.
Michael Martin's truck was torn open after he says he mistakenly got on the Belt Parkway, where commercial vehicles are not permitted, and hit a bridge. The North Carolina resident was issued two tickets, and the truck was removed by Runway Towing, which has the exclusive contract with the city to keep nine highways clear, including the Belt Parkway.
Runway towed the truck to its lot in South Ozone Park, Queens. Martin says it cost him $5,962.80.
"I was about floored," he said. "They had me because I had nowhere to go."
Martin's liability insurance didn't cover the bill, which included $3,000 for two heavy duty rotator wreckers. The city contract shows he should have been charged a fraction of that for the equipment. Martin also says there was just one heavy duty tow wrecker; the other Runway vehicle was a flatbed.
"The flatbed tow truck was never even in use. It was just sitting there on the grass," he said.
Multiple consumers accuse Runway of overcharging, including one Staten Island motorcyclist who asked not to be identified. In August, after an accident on the Staten Island Expressway, she was charged "clean-up" and "pull-out" fees, which the city says are not allowed.
She was taken to the hospital, and Runway took her vehicle more than 20 miles away to its Queens facility.
"I was shocked because I was, like, a mile from my house so I was wondering why my motorcycle went all the way to Queens," she said.
Rozner spoke with a former driver who is suing the company over a wage dispute.
"Runway loved when when owners of vehicles went to the hospital because automatically it was coming back to the yard," he said.
After a 2020 accident on the SIE, Mary Olsen's car was towed to Queens by Runway. Because of the 20-mile distance from her home, she says she wasn't able to get to her vehicle and racked up around $1,000 in storage fees. Unable to pay in full, she ended up handing over the title to Runway.
"I think it's terrible, really," she said.
Drivers do have a right to ask a tow company to bring their vehicle to their requested destination instead of their storage lot.
In 2019, a class action lawsuit against Runway alleged "consumers were charged in many cases, between $175-400 for the tow that should have been $125" for the first 10 miles.
The city has a longstanding practice of giving tow companies contracts to keep major roads clear, and Runway has had the exclusive contract along several city highways for more than a decade, but it wasn't until 2021 that the city tried to sever ties with the company.
In 2020, CBS2 reported the allegations against Runway, including drivers issuing blank receipts so they can dictate the prices instead of receipts that disclose set city rates and include a consumer bill of rights on the back.
- To read the towing services guide from the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, click here.
Now, our reporting is cited in a new $58 million class action lawsuit in state court filed by former Runway employees suing over wages and consumers who say they were overcharged.
READ MORE: Exclusive: Lawsuit Filed Against NYC Towing Company Accused Of Deceiving Thousands Of Customers
This time the NYPD and the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection are named as well as Runway. The complaint accuses the defendants of participating in a racketeering enterprise.
Attorneys Gary and Jared Rosen represent the plaintiffs.
"The police commissioner was put on notice three years ago by me, and I received a letter back from the police department saying that they will investigate this," Gary Rosen said.
The NYPD referred us to the city's law department.
In late 2020 and 2021, the Department of Consumer and Workforce Protection did notify Runway it would not renew its license citing "significant overcharges."
Runway then sued the city and a judge said not renewing the license "was too harsh ... given its operation as a licensed tow trucking company for seventeen years ... fourteen of which it didn't have any adjudicated violations."
The city is appealing the ruling.
"This is a company who has been acting in bad faith for too many years," Councilman Joe Borelli said.
"We are in discussion with the speaker's office on how we can hold a direct hearing about this," Council Chair Marjorie Velazquez said.
Errol Margolin, attorney for Runway Towing, would not do an interview but denies Runway overcharges consumers. He said by email, in part, that allegations of racketeering against the company are "truly absurd."
He added, "No other towing company has the ability to handle this workload ... This is a matter of public safety not a monopoly."
He also said the same allegations were made in the 2019 federal lawsuit. That suit is scheduled to complete mediation by the end of the year.
"The manure that Runway had us to do certain people was horrible," a former Runway driver said. "Somebody has to answer for it."
The city says, in part, it will "carefully investigate the allegations in this complaint and respond in the litigation."
The city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection says it received only one complaint against Runway Towing in 2011, but already this year, it's received 16.
The city is currently in the process of revamping the rules for towing companies and a hearing is scheduled to take place later in October.