Towing Issues: Towing after 5 minutes, 2006 nissan altima, tow truck drivers

Question
Hi Richard, I have a 2006 Nissan Altima which was towed from my apartment complex.  I had parked on the side of the road in front of my apartment for not more than 5-10 minutes.  I was not parked in a fire lane and I had my emergency flashers on.  This was an emergency, my wife is 7 months pregnant and has had a very complicated pregnancy.  To make a long story short, I was getting my 2 year old daughter and my wife ready to go to the hospital because she was going into pre-labor, and when we got out to the car it was gone.  I called up the 1-800 towing number and they would not help. The next day when I went to retrieve my car, It was closed for the holiday weekend, and now the towing company is trying to charge me for the whole weekend.  I was under the impression that the towing company had to call the vehical into the PD and wait one hour before towing.  When I asked the towing company about this, they said that the rules are different for each city.  Is this true?  And if so, do you know where I could find the individual rules for San Juan Capistrano, CA?

Answer
well, first of all I am sorry that your car got towed.  Hope your wife is doing good..

Now on to the question.

A common belief of turning on the 4 way flashers ( hazards) when parking in a red zone, fire lane, or roadway, does not work.  In fact it really draws attention to the vehicle from the tow truck drivers.
Sorry but it also sounds like the tow truck driver was headed that way already either by being called or on patrol for illegally parked cars.  Its always a gamble when you park..

Now as to the towing company being closed on weekend, YES the offices are closed at nights and weekends and holidays. BUT there is a thing called After hours release fees, or gate fees where you pay extra to get the vehicle outside of normal business hours. It can be cheaper to do this than let the vehicle sit for the weekend..

The call into the police 1 hour before towing, is another common misbelief.  If the vehicle was parked behind your car in a space and you had the above described emergency, would you want to wait one hour for the car to be towed?

It usually is where the vehicle has to be called in after the vehicle goes in tow or gets to the storage yard.

Now differant Cities, Countries, States all have differant laws, and I tried to find specific rules for San Juan Capistrano, but was not able to find anything that would apply here.  I see though that they are working on changing some rules about towing and parking in certain locations.  I would check with the city commission about this. They might have the rules and I did not find them online during a quick search.  (FYI  california towing laws / news generated over 14,000,000 hits .. Hard to search them all..

Well hope this is helpful, I hope that things can work out.