Traffic authorities given a LIFT with trick new tow truck

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The City of Cape Town has a new tow truck. And they are so happy they took to social media to tell you all about it. As you can see in the pictures, it’s a new vertical-lift tow truck. And it’s capable of clearing illegally parked vehicles much quicker than a conventional tow truck. The new piece of machinery is off to a rollicking start, too, clearing six vehicles in no time last week.

If your vehicle is taken away by traffic authorities and impounded, you’re required to pay the fine as well as the impoundment release fee. And you have three months to collect your car from impound or the City can dispose of it. This may either be via an auction to recoup costs or, in the case of unroadworthy car, crush it. You can call 021 480 7700 for any parking-related queries. Whether you’d like to report an illegally parked car or get ahold of yours.

VERTICAL-LIFT TOW TRUCK

City official Alderman JP Smith overseas a demo run of the new tow truck that utilises a clever forklift-type mechanism. Image: City of CT on X

“Our new vertical-lift tow truck makes it so much easier to remove vehicles. Particularly ones that are parallel parked and can’t be moved with conventional tow trucks. A clever forklift mechanism makes the job a breeze. It’s early days yet, and our staff are familiarising themselves with the machinery, so we expect the rate of pick-ups to increase rapidly in the near future,” said Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.

Consider this your wake-up call if you’re a motorist who thinks you can get away with breaking parking laws. In fact, there are numerous circumstances under which a vehicle can be towed away by law enforcement services. Any vehicle causing an obstruction to the safe passage of other road users – motorists and pedestrians – may be impounded according to Section 56 of the City’s Traffic By-laws. Moreover, a vehicle is considered abandoned if it’s left in public or a metered parking space/garage for a continuous period of seven days or more. In the past nine months, Western Cape Traffic Services have impounded more than 350 vehicles for the above violations.