Here is a story that maybe some of you can relate to, especially if you’ve paid any attention whatsoever to the way people park around town. At my house very near the center, I have two large garage doors with highly visible “Garaj” markings displayed on the front of them. Although it is printed in white… it doesn’t blend into the  snow. This morning now marks the SECOND time that someone has parked their car strategically in front of my garage without leaving as much as a note with their phone number on the dashboard. The first car to do this was an Audi A4 (a “beginner” luxury car in the States), the second car was a Toyota Prado… both fitze cars here. With this fitzeness comes the added dose of arrogance. “I don’t care about anyone but myself… so I can park where I want when I want…. and nobody can tell my Nike Jumpsuit ass anything else”. Well.. lets just say that on this morning they received a gift they’ll remember fr a long time:

There are two methods to getting a car towed here in Bucharest (three if you have a big truck and a chain). The first is to flip through the directories and call a private towing service. They’ll ask you for all your information, as well as the information of the car you wish to have towed. Why your information? So they can get paid of course… if they are “unable” to get an “acceptable” amount of money out of the actual violator! Yes indeed… you as the “victim” of double parking or blockage may actually have to pay the driver or service that removes the problem vehicle for you. So here it is.. if you call a private company, there is no promises that you may not have to come up with a few hundred ron to have them move a car for you!

The second option? The police actually have a line that rings to their governmental towing agency. This department has a unique way of dealing with problem vehicles that only costs the violator, not the person calling in (you may have seen these trucks recently surrounding Zara at Unirii, they have been removing a lot of cars there lately). When you call this, you give them your name, and a contact number for you, but then immediately they focus their concern on the violating vehicle. You’ll need the color, make, model, as well as tag number. Once you give this to them, expect everything to happen quickly (rapid response is how they make their money on this one)! Within ten minutes (the units are dispatched by sector and zone) you’ll see two dark sedans block in the violating car. Next, they will adjust the cameras on the front windscreen of their cars to photograph the car, it’s parking position, the time and date, and the tag number. It is at this point that the person has “passed the point of no return” for receiving a parking violation. Once this is done, the flatbed truck is right around the corner ready to lift the car out of the way if the driver has not shown up. (the police will call the phone number on file with the tag as well to “prompt” the driver to come pay up now). All in all it’s a great show. If we all pitch in and have some cars towed I think Bucharest will be a better place! Want the phone number to get started now? Here it is: 021 9544

Tags: bad drivers, blocked in, car removal, double parked, fitze, garage, garaj, parking, Police, tow service, towing, towtruck

This entry was posted on 30/01/2010 at 00:02 and is filed under Articles, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.