Up to 26 towing and transport companies throughout Rio Arriba County — including one owned by a former Española city councilor — lost their operating licenses in a crackdown by the Public Regulation Commission.
The Commission has revoked the licenses of 296 transport companies throughout the state since May for failing to provide proof of insurance, spokesman Paul Carbajal said.
“What happened is we got a new computer system that lets us track these things more easily, so we started cleaning house,” Carbajal said.
State law requires towing companies to maintain insurance with a $750,000 bodily injury limit and a $50,000 limit for other liabilities. Information on file with the Commission showed the cited companies’ insurance had expired, and they failed to file proof of having renewed coverage, according to an order filed May 5 by the Commission.
The companies’ licenses will remain suspended until they show proof of up-to-date insurance coverage. Companies that continue to operate without a valid license face fines of up to $10,000 a day, the order states.
Among the revoked licenses was one for Seeds Towing Services, owned by former city councilor Robert Seeds and his wife, Laura.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Seeds said when contacted. “I’ve been operating 37 years, and I’ve never been suspended, so I don’t know where you’re getting your info, but if you have a letter or something I haven’t seen, I’d like to see it. “
Carbajal said Seeds Towing and another company, Hernandez-based J&S Transit, have already obtained insurance and had their licenses restored.
Seeds and his company were the centerpiece of a decade-long legal battle over a special exception the City Council gave Seeds in 1995 that allowed him to keep an auto storage yard at his house on Birch Lane. Three years later, then-councilor Anthony VanderVossen — Seeds’ neighbor, brother-in-law and competing tow company owner — and the city tried unsuccessfully to overturn the exception by suing Seeds in state District Court. The case ended in 2004 with a court order forcing the city to pay Seeds $10,000 in legal fees.