Towing Issues: Towing laws, freeway interchange, underground tanks

Question
My husband and I were in an accident on the 118 freeway interchange to the 405 northboung at 2:15am on the way to meet a friend that he works with who was kind enough to drive him into work with him.(My husbands car had broken down the previous Friday) It was raining pretty hard but we were able to slowly drive the car off the freeway at the first off ramp we came to. He was supposed to meet his friend at the next exit which was 3/4 of a mile north of where we were. There was one gas station at the bottom of this off ramp and we pulled my car into there and parked in a spot at the side of the station. My husband quickly jumped out of the car and ran the distance to meet his friend while I waited in the car. Of course we had forgotten his cell phone # at home and I only brought my license and cell phone and didn't have my AAA card on me. My husband and his friend pulled into the gas station about 1/2 hour later. His friend offered to take us home and both my husband and I went up to the window of the gas station and told the man who was working at the time that we would be back after we got home from work and have the car towed, probably around 6 or 7 pm that same day. We offered to give him our name and phone #' but he didn't want them. He told us o.k. and we left. At 6:14 pm that evening we returned to have the car towed to our mechanic and it was gone. They had it towed away. How can that be legal?????

Thanks

We live in Simi Valley but the gas station is in Mission Hills in the San Fernando Valley in California.

Answer
well if you think its legal or not, its the property owners rights to have vehicles removed from their property..

There are 2 problems with gas stations,  one is that the people usually do not notify others on duty of the status of problems or arrangements.  That miscommunication is the biggest problem..   

Second problem is that most station parking areas are right where the fill access is for the underground tanks... If you are parked on top of the tanks they you might of been towed because they were getting a delivery of gasoline.
Now on to the AAA card, yes AAA asks that you have your card with you for service, but they also do understand that not everyone has it with them.... They do make arrangements at times.


Now the California laws regarding impounding of vehicles has changed and they do have a 1 hour provision in them for the vehicle to be sitting... But there are other exemptions ..

To me this sounds legal, but I know that telling people that its going to be removed soon is good answers, but in my 29 years of towing,  I have found soon to mean 1 hr to 100 days or more...