Sec. 185.7. Termination of towing contracts

(a) Termination for regulatory violation.

The department may terminate any contract awarded pursuant to this Part upon a finding of a violation of the terms of the contract, violation of these regulations, violations of law, or other incapacity. Grounds for termination shall include, but shall not be limited to: charging in excess of the authorized schedule, failure to timely respond to towing calls, unsafe practices, failure to maintain proper insurance and failure to timely submit contract fee. No refund of fee shall be made to a contractor upon such termination.

(b) Termination in the public interest.

The department may terminate any contract at any time without a specific finding of regulatory violation whenever it believes that the public interest or safety would better be served by such termination. However, in such case, the department shall refund to contractor, on a pro rata basis, that portion of the fee paid by the contractor for the unexpired term of the contract.

(c) If any contract is terminated under this section, the department shall make such interim arrangements as may be necessary for the protection of public safety, pending award of another contract pursuant to these regulations.

(d) For certain violations, the department may elect to impose penalties. Below is a listing of violations and associated penalties.

Violation	First Violation	Second Violation	Third Violation
Failure to submit counts with payment	A	B	C
Late response to call	A	B	C
Refusing to accept a credit card	A	B	C
Refusing service	A	B	C
Failure to clean up debris	A	B	C
Rudeness to customers	A	B	C
Cruising	A	B	C
Towing out of zone	A	B	C
Failure to respond to DOT requests for information	A	B	C
Use of improper/incomplete rate sheet	B	C	D
Failure to maintain insurance	B	C	D
Subcontracting without approval	B	C	D
Lack of 24 hour availability	B	C	D
Refusing to release a vehicle	B	C	D
Refusing to release property in a vehicle	B	C	D
Refusing to tow vehicle where customer directs	B	C	D
Unsafe practices	B	C	D
Overcharge	B	C	D
Refusing to follow police directives	B	C	D
Inspection fraud	C	D	E
Assault	D	E	—
A = Letter of reprimand
B = One-week suspension
C = Two-week suspension
D = Four-week suspension
E = Termination