port of spain tries to be a fairly modern city, it`s not as bad as some and a lot better than most.
however the bane of the existence of most drivers in pos is the congestion and the scrounge of humanity, the wrecker men.
in theory, or at least according to the letter of the law, your car should be ticketed for a specific period of time before you`re towed. well that`s how it should work, it doesn`t
this is where i get nasty, even though i no longer drive, these motherfuckers, are indiscriminate and worse than that, they`re vicious and mean. i don`t actually believe in hell, but i think there is a special place in the after life for them.
in port of spain, these guys, it`s usually four, a police officer, to lend some air of legality to the practice, the driver and two guys who sit in the back of the jeep. they cruise around town between 9 and 4 and tow cars at random. and i`m not joking about random, i`ve seen them drag cars out of the middle of a row of cars illegally parked. [now bearing in mind there seem to be a lack of street signs in our fair city, it`s a virtual parking lottery] not the car at the top of the rank or the bottom the middle. the one where the person paralled parked to save their lives.
now the fee for this towage is $100. when i was mobile, i did managed to get towed, so when i went to reclaim my car, my journalistic mind though it proper to enquire as to the ratio of distribution of this money.
getting past the rudeness of the officer was hard enough [that is a tale for another day] i did learn that less than 50% of the money goes towards the government`s coffers. now i`m still trying to find out which governmental agency`s coffers it does end up in.
i haven`t had a car of my own for a while but i just happened to see a towing in progress yesterday and it pissed me right off, so i thought i`d share.
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parking, towing, port of spain, trinidad
