File photo Workers with 1st Priority Automotive and Towing work to clean up an accident on Nashua’s Main Street in January. This is one of the companies contracted by the city to respond to events that occur on public property.

NASHUA – City officials are aware of residents and visitors taking issue with aggressive vehicle towing practices involving private landowners and the companies that work for them.

While they listened to the concerns of the public and the surrounding businesses, city leaders said they have no jurisdiction over how these companies choose to operate.

One of the parking lots about which concerns were heard is the one next to the former office of The Telegraph, 60 Main St. This lot belongs to Whiting Building LLC., a firm which has an agreement with Pepperell, Massachusetts-based Eastbound Transport.

Multiple businesses, residents and visitors have complained to the city and the building owner regarding not only Eastbound transporting vehicles over the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border, but charges which many consider exorbitant.

One individual who brought it to the public’s attention was Nashua resident Chris Pierdominici, who gave his account of an incident on Facebook earlier in the week. According to Pierdominici’s post on Jan. 27, he had gone to dinner at The Peddler’s Daughter on Main Street on a Saturday night and parked in the Whiting-owned lot, which adjoins with another parking lot.

He said was unaware he had parked in a private lot because he did not see the “No Parking” signs, due to the fact that they were obscured by other vehicles.

Pierdominici, who said he was only gone for an hour, came back to find that his car had been towed from the lot.

After consulting with the police, he was able to make his way to the towing company, which charged $320, cash-only. His bill included a $145 towing charge, $60 skate dolly fee, $60 snatch block fee and a $55 gate fee, all of which line up with the city’s agreement with the companies it uses for towing.

In his post on the Nashua Civic Sounding Board, Pierdominici said he took issue with practices of the towing company, in addition to calling out the city for allowing this to occur. Pierdominici could not be reached for further comment on his post.

Though the questions of morality and ethics are raised in such circumstances, none of the actions taken by either the property owner or the towing company are against the law.

Mike Guibeault of D&R Towing Inc., which is one of the three companies contacted with the city, said it is not illegal for private towing companies to bring vehicles across state lines. Guibeault, who is the director of the Nashua Towing Association, said that as long as a company has U.S. Department of Transportation and Interstate Commerce Commission numbers, as well as drivers with commercial driver’s licenses and the vehicles used for towing can pass state inspection, its workers can transport vehicles across state line without issue.

The towing association consists of three local towing companies: D&R, 1st Priority Automotive and Towing LLC. and Broadside Collision Centers. They work with the city and only tow vehicles out of public areas when called on to do so by local authorities. Only one of the members, Broadside, has private contracts with landowners.

Alex Hanson, an employee at Broadside, said the company charges the same rates regardless of whether they are called to tow by the city or they are towing for one of their private clients.

“We charge the same rate no matter what,” Hanson said of the company’s towing policies. “If we get a call from one of our clients that someone is parked illegally on their property, we go and tow them out and charge them our rates.”

The owner of 1st Priority, Robert Ruggiero, said that since there are no state regulated charges, private towing companies have the ability to charge any price they want. He said some companies might take advantage of that fact, though there is a way to for vehicle owners to fight a towing charge they believe is unnecessarily high – by bringing the towing company to state court. He said such action is entirely up to the owner.

“They have the ability to submit for a hearing at the state level,” Ruggiero said. “If they feel they have been wronged, they have to pay and then submit.”

Although vehicle owners have the right to request a hearing, it is relatively difficult to prove that a private tow company is in the wrong, Ruggiero said, since there are no guidelines set by the city or the state.

One of the reasons the city has no way to enforce any regulations regarding pricing for private tow companies is due to a federal mandate enacted in 1994 which states, “a State (or) political subdivision of a state… may not enact or enforce a law, regulation, or other provisions having the force and effect of law related to a price, route or service of any motor carrier… with the respect of transporting property.”

Timothy Morine of Eastbound doesn’t see anything wrong with how his company is operating either, since he and the property owner have an agreement and he has all the proper certifications to tow across state lines.

“That lot is for Whiting, who rents out spaces for $50 a month,” Morine said. “Most of the people I tow out of there are parking there to avoid meters.”

Morine said the company, which is not contracted by the city in any means, has prices that line up with those other towing companies charge, which he said are the general rates in Nashua. While his towing company is across the state’s border, the location isn’t relatively far from the city’s downtown.

“It’s only 15 minutes away,” he said. “A couple of other companies that tow from the city are farther away.”

Dmitry Zhivotovsky, owner of Whiting Building LLC and the 100 Main St. building, which the Pearson Avenue lot caters, said he understands people are upset when they get towed from the lot. While he doesn’t mind if people are parking in the lot for a few minutes, those spots are for his tenants and it’s not fair to them if they come back and their spot is taken.

Zhivotovsky said Eastbound employees are just doing their job when they tow vehicles from spots that are reserved for his tenants.

“If I don’t have anyone to enforce it, my tenants wouldn’t have a place to park,” he said. “People shouldn’t park there.”

Mayor Jim Donchess and city leaders are aware of complaints about the problem with certain parking lots, include the one on Pearson Avenue. However, city officials said there is very little they can do regarding the private lots.

Kim Kleiner, the mayor’s chief of staff, said city officials do not needlessly call for vehicles to get towed. They will only call if the vehicle presents a safety hazard or has been in accident and the area needs to be cleared.

Kleiner said the problem with lots such as the one on Pearson Avenue is the confusion between which spots are public and which spots are private.

“The confusion is that there are meters (in the public lot),” Kleiner said, “and eight feet behind that is a private lot.”

City officials said they field complaints about private towing practices, but the lot on Pearson Avenue is by far the one generating the most. Kleiner said the city is working to ensure that specific lot will have signage to delineate what is public parking and what is not.

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