A Tennessee truck stop owner is warning truckers after he says he accidentally signed a contract with a fraudulent towing company.
The owner of the Shell Station at I-40 and Exit 35 in Fayette County, Tennessee did not want his name released to the public, but says he needs to warn truckers about a bad contract he signed with a towing company linked to the illegal towing of semi trucks.
The owner of the station recently signed a contract with S-Line Towing, and one day later realized that the company was working with A-1 Towing and Hauling – a company recently linked to multiple arrests for theft and car-jacking after booting and towing semi trucks illegally. Now, he wants to warn drivers that the company has refused to cancel the contract, and is unfairly targeting drivers in his lot.
“They put a banner at the entrance of the truck stop to pay for parking over there. People were there before the sign was up, they didn’t know anything about it. When they came Friday, the towing company started towing trucks out of the parking lot,” he said to WREG. “They charge between $3,300 – $3,600 for one day.”
The owner says he hired the company with the intent to provide security and collect parking fees from truckers looking to park overnight or for a day at a time, but the company is booting trucks just minutes after they pull into the lot.
“Let me tell you what happened. They waited about five minutes. They let a truck on the lot and followed the truck. The driver went to the bathroom, and he came out, and they were towing the truck,” the truck stop owner said. “One driver, they towed the truck while they were sleeping, and they made him pay $300 just to unhook the truck.”
The owner is currently seeking an injunction to keep S-Line and A1’s off his lot, but has put up warning signs for truckers in the meantime, and is even blocking their tow trucks with his own vehicles to try to help out the drivers. The Fayette County Sheriff’s office says that they can’t do anything due to the signed contract.
“I never thought I was going to hurt anybody, or hurt my business, or hurt myself, or have this to think about,” the owner said.
Five A-1’s employees and one S-Line worker have been arrested in the last five months for illegally towing tractor trailers, and even taking them by force.
“Someone needs to stop them,” said the Shell Station owner. “The truck drivers don’t have the $3,300 to pay when they leave their truck or go to sleep or take a shower. I can give you the names and numbers of truck drivers. It’s all the same story, and it’s sad, and some of them have loads, and I feel so bad for them, and I’m really under a lot of pressure because I feel like I caused this problem.”