Penn fires towing co.

The University terminated its contract with the George Smith Towing Company last week because of "performance issues," Director of University Police Administration George Clisby said yesterday. The University Police department contracts an outside towing company to keep Superblock clear of parked cars. The area has been designated a no parking zone because of fire regulations. While the University fired George Smith Towing last week, Clisby said the company will stop towing cars from Penn's campus on Saturday, May 4 in compliance with the terms of its contract. He would not comment further on the situation. On Saturday evening, University Police stopped a George Smith truck and arrested the operator, Herman Fields, for driving under the influence of alcohol as he towed a student's car from the front of High Rise South. And earlier this week, University Police Sgt. Thomas Rambo and Director of Residential Living Gigi Simeone said the University had received a number of complaints about the towing company in the past. Engineering graduate student Frederick Furia complained about George Smith Towing in a post on upenn.talk last week that drew dozens of follow-up posts complaining about the company. In a Letter to the Editor printed in The Daily Pennsylvanian on October 27, 1995, College sophomore Danny Liang alleged that the company towed his car from Superblock even though he obtained a parking permit from High Rise East. College sophomore and Undergraduate Assembly member Josh Rockoff said he has been tracking complaints against George Smith Towing and has reported the company to the Philadelphia Consumer Protection Agency and the Better Business Bureau. In the past, Philadelphia Police have filed auto theft charges against George Smith Towing to retrieve cars they believed the company towed illegally. Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush and Nancy McCue, assistant director of services for Residential Living, were unavailable for comment yesterday. George Smith, the towing company, could not be reached either.