New November 12 policy change will see cars towed without warning as drivers slam rule as ‘cruel’
A NEW policy coming to a major city on November 12 will see rule-breaking cars towed with no prior warning.
Drivers have slammed the new rule as “cruel” – with many concerned that RVs they live in will be targeted.
Officials in Portland, Oregon, will begin picking out drivers who don’t properly display their registration information.
According to the new law, which comes into effect on Tuesday, any vehicle that fails to properly display at least one license plate and a vehicle identification number in the city will be automatically towed.
This comes as a recent change to city code now authorizes officers to tow vehicles without any notice if found without a visible VIN and/or license plates.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation have claimed the use of towing without prior warning will help parking enforcement officers clear away vehicles that violate city code more quickly.
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But residents across the city have expressed their concerns, with many fearing it will see people lose RVs that they live in.
That includes Nelly, who lives in an RV in Northeast Portland, who told KGW: “We work hard for what we do have out here, to lose it is cruel.
“I think it’s bull sh***, the reason why is because everybody’s trying to survive on the streets.”
Meghan, who also lives in an RV, said: “I don’t have anywhere else to go; I don’t have anything else but this.
“I have a VIN number. I don’t have a license plate. It hasn’t been registered since 1989.”
Meghan, who was forced to live in a tent before the RV, added: “Having facilities, having running water and all that is a huge, huge difference.
I was left with $8,000 repair bill after my new car was ‘wrongfully’ towed – then it got stuck at shop for four months
“If they take that, it’s going to create more of a problem then it would help anything.”
However, not everyone is quite so concerned and many locals believe it could solve a lot of issues in a city that, with over 600,000 residents, is one of the most populated in the nation.
Suzanne Rollins, who lives in Northeast Portland and has dealt with RVs and other vehicles parked up in front of her house for years, said: “I think it will make it better.
“We’ve gotten multiple notices from the post office that they can’t deliver our mail because there’s somebody parked right in front of the mailbox.”
Oregon Vehicle License Plate Requirements
Oregon Driver & Motor Vehicle Services requires most vehicles to display two license plates, one on the front and the other on the back.
However, vehicles like mopeds and motorcycles only require one plate on the back.
A VIN is usually visible on the driver’s side of the vehicle’s dashboard, and can be read from outside the vehicle by looking in through the windshield.
In their report, KGW requested a comment from the PBOT regarding what would happen to people’s vehicles that do get towed.
In a previous report, Hannah Schafer, from the PBOT, told KOIN 6: “The goal of this new policy is primarily to address bad actors that appear to be intentionally hiding their VINs and removing license plates from their vehicles to make them unidentifiable to parking enforcement officers.”
It has since been confirmed that the city will set up a “towing hardship fund” to go with the policy, that would grant drivers whose cars had been stolen before being towed or those on low incomes up to $300 to cover recovery costs and the release fee.
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This comes as a driver was left stunned after discovering she had been hit with a $100,000 parking fine at a location they hadn’t parked.
Jenner Fitzgerald’s 1999 Chevy Monte Carlo cost just $600 – far less than the $105,000 fine she was slapped with after her car was abandoned at an airport.