Former TLC Chairman David Yassky often bragged about the ever-increasing number of cars his agency was seizing as unlicensed taxis, sometimes more than 1000 per month. Indeed, the limiting factor was said not to be the number of unlicensed cabs on the streets, but the space to store seized vehicles.
Last week, though, a TLC inspector said that he and his colleagues often stopped and seized cars because of pressure from enforcement-unit brass. These inspectors have grabbed cars without adequate evidence or reasonable suspicion that the drivers were working as illegally as unauthorized cabbies.
Inspector practices appear to often include aggressively questioning passengers who are dropped off at airports about whether they paid for the ride. If the flummoxed passengers-- who naturally wonder wonder why they are being questions-- don't give a sufficiently clear statement that they did not pay, the inspectors stop the driver, issue a summons to the drive and sometimes to the car owner as well. Each can call for a fine of $1500.
In one egregious example, last week inspectors seized a car belonging to a charity that gives rides to cancer patients.
In addition to the possible fine, the car owner has to to both the TLC and to an impound lot at another location to retrieve the vehicle at an additional cost of several hundred dollars. It's not at all clear, however, whether the seizures are lawful where the car's driver is perfectly capable of driving it away and no crime is charged.
If your car has been seized, click here.
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