JEDDAH, 26 February 2003 — Jeddah residents are angry at the municipality for towing cars away without warning. People say the purpose of towing the cars is simply to produce profit for the contracted towing companies.
According to statistics, the number of cars towed by Jeddah Municipality is more than 14,000 a year — in other words, between 1,200 and 1,500 cars a month.
Al-Watan investigated why so many cars were towed away. Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi said the towing company towed his vehicle from the front of his shop even though staff at the shop told the company that he had gone to get spare parts for the vehicle.
“When I went to claim my property, they charged me SR500 in addition to the cost of returning the vehicle to my shop.” He asked if the Jeddah Municipality did not realize that sometimes vehicles needed repairs and so had to be parked on the street. Muhammad Ali, another Jeddah resident, had a similar experience.
Sami Hamed, in charge of towing at the Jeddah Municipality, told Al-Watan that “we only tow cars that have been parked in the street for a long time or that hinder street-cleaning operations.
“There is a committee consisting of the municipality, traffic police and the towing company which decides which car to tow. It does not happen randomly. We follow a set procedure and we point out cars that will be towed the next day.
“Only 25 percent of owners come and ask about their cars,” he added.
