Two Taipei City councilors yesterday accused the police and private car-towing companies of conspiring to "steal" from motorists and displayed a list of 10 road sections where cars are at an unusually high risk of being towed.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City councilors Chen Yung-te (陳永德) and Chen Yi-chou (陳義洲) said that the revenue collected from towing away cars at Bade Road Sec. 4, Jihe Road, Zhonghxiao E Road Sec. 4, Minquan E Road Sec. 6 and six other locations accounted for about one-tenth of the city's yearly towing charges.
According to the city's department of transportation, the city collected NT$500 million (US$15.6 million) worth of towing charges last year.
Both of the councilors complained that the city had insufficient parking spaces and that towing companies took advantage of motorists.
Chen Yung-te said that there were only 97 parking spaces available around Minquan E Road Sec. 6 and that there were only 300 parking spaces provided along Zhongxiao E Road Sec. 4.
Both also pointed out that the premises of some of the towing firms were close to these 10 road sections.
Two towing firms located in Beitou, for example, would find it convenient to tow cars from Jihe Road, the section that is closest to where they are located.
"[A towing company located near these sections] saves on gas and other expenses," Chen Yung-te said.
"The towing crew can get to the spot faster and more business opportunities will be available," he said.
Chen Yi-chou said there appeared to be flaws in the way cars were being subjected to towing.
"The police order that cars be towed immediately without even issuing tickets to the motorists first," he said.
Chen Shao-hsu (
He said that vehicles were towed because motorists tend to think they can get away with parking their cars illegally.
Last year, more than 20,000 cars were towed in Taipei City, of which 3,082 were towed from Bade Road Sec. 4. About 2,600 were towed from Jihe Road and 2,264 were removed from Zhongxiao E Road Sec. 4.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TAIWAN ADVOCATES: The resolution, which called for the recognition of Taiwan as a country and normalized relations, was supported by 22 Republican representatives Two US representatives on Thursday reintroduced a resolution calling for the US to end its “one China” policy, resume formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and negotiate a bilateral Taiwan-US free trade agreement. Republican US representatives Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th District were backed by 22 Republican members of the US House of Representatives. The two congressmen first introduced the resolution together in 2021. The resolution called on US President Donald Trump to “abandon the antiquated ‘one China’ policy in favor of a policy that recognizes the objective reality that Taiwan is an independent country, not
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)