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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — City leaders want a clear set of rules and regulations for tow truck companies to eliminate bad actors in the industry.

Councilman Ford Canale said over the last year, A1’s Towing and Hauling has violated city and state booting and towing ordinances, and he doesn’t want it to happen again.

“You all have done stories on A1 Towing,” said Canale. “They were preying on individuals and trying to collect exorbitant rates that were unlawful.”

Resolution was presented during council committee meeting Tuesday. (WREG photo)

Canale is asking the city’s permits office to describe in detail the procedures and standards for wreckers and tow operators so they can be posted online. He also wants tow truck companies to know they could lose their license if they don’t follow the law.

“We will take swift action through the permits office,” said Canale. “They can only suspend your license for ten days. For a revocation or longer suspension, you have to go before the transportation commission. So, we are asking the transportation commission also to become more active in these cases and to watch how these towing companies operate.”

In 2023, the City of Memphis Permits Office received more than a dozen complaints from truckers from all over the country who said they were illegally booted and towed by A1’s and charged thousands of dollars to get their vehicles back.

Complaints from truckers about A1’s Towing & Hauling

WREG was also contacted by multiple trucking companies who said their driver’s big rigs were booted while they were still inside the trucks. In one case, a Chicago driver stayed inside an 18-wheeler for nearly 34 hours at a truck stop on East Shelby Drive to stop A1’s from taking the truck. 

The owner of MHT Group Inc. said A1’s said the driver didn’t pay to park, and A1’s blocked him in. He said they offered to pay $7,500 to get them to drop the truck, but they told him it wasn’t nearly enough.

Driver stays in truck nearly 34 hours at Shelby Express. WREG photo

Eventually, the Tennessee Highway Patrol was called to the scene, and troopers made A1’s release the vehicle.

“They were also breaking the highway patrols rules on the road,” said Canale.

In November, the Memphis Transporation Commission suspended A1’s Towing and Hauling’s booting permits for 30 days in response to some of the complaints.

The Arkansas Towing and Recovery Board also suspended A1’s license in their state for 60 days after several truck drivers said that they had been illegally booted and towed from the same unmanned truck stop in West Memphis.

Canale said he also fielded complaints from trucker drivers. He said he doesn’t want any confusion about what tow truck companies are allowed to do.

“We want to let the public, especially the industry, to know what the permits office can do and what the transportation commission can do and make it very clear on how they (the wreckers) are to operate,” Canale said.

Last year, A1’s filed a lawsuit against the City of Memphis, the Memphis Police Chief, and multiple MPD officers, accusing them of “weaponizing a civil municipal ordinance to discriminate against the minority-owned company.”

The Memphis Permits Office will present the rules to the full city council on February 6.

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