Latest / Towing News Now / Hazmat Training for Tow Operators: Expanding Your Business Beyond Recovery
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast.
- 0:08Speaker 1: I want to remind all of you that the American Towing Recovery Institute aims to promote professionalism, safety and education within the towing and recovery industry.
- 0:19Speaker 1: Remember, we provide training and certification programs for towing operators.
- 0:26Speaker 1: We also advocate for industry standards and best practices, support research and develop all new techniques, including research and development of electric and alternative fuel vehicles With extensive research, with the EV Clever app, available now on Apple and Google Play stores, Foster cooperation among industry stakeholders.
- 0:53Speaker 1: Please, if you need to contact us, we're always at wwwamtowri G Now.
- 1:04Speaker 1: Here is Towing News Now.
- 1:08Speaker 2: This is Towing News.
- 1:10Speaker 2: Now we have a follow-up of a story out of Alabama about an ex-officer who fatally shot a man during truck repossession.
- 1:19Speaker 2: We covered his trial a while back and he has been denied immunity.
- 1:25Speaker 3: As a result of the facts and evidence presented in this case.
- 1:28Speaker 3: The grand jury unanimously returned an indictment against Mack Bailey Marquette, charging him with the crime of murder.
- 1:38Speaker 4: After months of investigations into the shooting death of Steve Perkins, a former Decatur police officer is now charged with murder.
- 1:44Speaker 4: Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson announced Friday morning that Mack Marquette had been arrested for shooting and killing Steve Perkins in his front yard.
- 1:52Speaker 4: Law enforcement agencies have denied repeated requests to see body camera video from the night Perkins was killed.
- 1:59Speaker 4: Now his family will get to see it, but Anderson says he's keeping it from the public to avoid tainting the jury pool.
- 2:06Speaker 3: My job is to seek justice and do it the best that I can, and the best way that I can seek justice is to make sure that everybody gets a fair trial, and that that can only happen if we've got the largest jury pool in Morgan County that we can have.
- 2:21Speaker 4: He claims, previously released videos created rumors and speculation.
- 2:25Speaker 4: It's something he wishes to avoid, since the video will be used as evidence at trial.
- 2:31Speaker 3: As a result of posting the door count footage, you had untruths, half-truths, speculations, innuendos, rumors, and it just goes on and on, and all those were shared, and so that evidence, while it is still good evidence, is tainted with opinions.
- 2:56Speaker 2: We keep you updated if anything happens.
- 2:59Speaker 2: We have another follow-up story from a previous podcast out of Billings, Montana, when a tow truck company got removed from the police list rotation.
- 3:10Speaker 2: Now this tow truck company is suing the city.
- 3:14Speaker 5: When an accident happens, the police will sometimes call for a tow truck.
- 3:18Speaker 5: Anderson Towing has been permanently suspended from that rotation.
- 3:21Speaker 5: The company is now alleging that the city has violated its due process rights.
- 3:25Speaker 5: When police respond to a crash and a tow truck is needed, officers will not be calling Anderson Towing.
- 3:32Speaker 6: Essentially a death penalty for a towing business.
- 3:35Speaker 5: Matthew Monfortin is the attorney for Anderson Towing and says the suspension came about after a crash in downtown Billings.
- 3:42Speaker 6: This is a clear violation of Anderson to.
- 3:47Speaker 5: The court filing states a no notice or hearing from permanent suspension in v process clause of the 14t on a towing list when you a property right that sho away from the company.
- 4:04Speaker 6: Wit due process of law.
- 4:05Speaker 5: Retired District Court Judge Russell Fagg received a bill of more than $1,700 to pick up his dad's car.
- 4:11Speaker 5: Fagg said he was overcharged so he filed a complaint with the Office of Consumer Protection and later asked the city to take Anderson out of the rotation.
- 4:18Speaker 5: In a letter to the city attorney's office, russ Fagg said his goal is to have Anderson Towing taken out of the rotation for towing companies called by the BPD, so billing citizens are no longer subject to their price gaging and mistreatment.
- 4:32Speaker 6: The permanent removal was based on Judge Faggs' allegation from a tow that occurred a month ago.
- 4:39Speaker 5: In court documents, Chief St John stated in a letter to Anderson Towing the city of Billings received informal complaints from citizens regarding excessive invoices received from Anderson Towing.
- 4:48Speaker 5: Following local rotation calls, Anderson Towing is removed from the Billings local rotation.
- 4:53Speaker 5: This decision is permanent and will not be reconsidered.
- 4:57Speaker 6: We have never seen what those informal complaints are.
- 5:01Speaker 5: A spokesperson says police followed the same procedures as the state for tow truck complaints.
- 5:05Speaker 6: When Anderson Towing gets to have their day in court, we're going to have the evidence to disprove these allegations.
- 5:12Speaker 2: There's been a lot of stories about tow truck businesses having predatory practices, but here's a story about justice being served out of Pittsburgh, with an owner of a tow truck service now serving house arrest after pleading guilty A year and a half after we exposed a local tow truck operator charging victims as much as $11,000 a tow.
- 5:36Speaker 7: He's taking a plea deal to avoid possibly going to jail.
- 5:38Speaker 7: Kdk lead investigator, Andy Sheehan, first reported on the towing practices of Vince Fanik and Fanik Towing and Andy was there when Fanik went to court today.
- 5:47Speaker 8: You got a plea bargain Vince Facing 151 counts of fraud and theft by deception.
- 5:54Speaker 8: Tow truck operator Vince Fanik headed into District Judge James Hanley's courtroom, waiving his hearing and agreeing to make restitution to victims while pleading guilty to some charges.
- 6:06Speaker 9: I feel like he stole my car.
- 6:08Speaker 9: Yeah, I just want my car back.
- 6:09Speaker 8: The plea bargain comes a year and a half after we first exposed Fanex towing prosecutors' term predatory, charging some 36 victims $8,000, $9,000, $10,000 and as much as $11,000 to tow their cars short distances and holding the vehicles hostage until they pay up.
- 6:28Speaker 8: In each case, fannick charged the victims thousands for the tow and thousands more for phantom recovery, gate and administrative fees, alleged services which prosecutors say were never performed.
- 6:41Speaker 8: Instead of fighting the charges, fanik waived his hearing and will plead guilty to some counts when he's formally arraigned in May.
- 6:49Speaker 8: County detectives and members of the Attorney General's office would not reveal the details of the plea, but sources say he'll be on house arrest and need to make restitution to victims.
- 7:01Speaker 8: Didn't you have any second thoughts about your telling?
- 7:04Speaker 10: He's not going to talk to the press today.
- 7:06Speaker 8: Fanick said nothing leaving the court, but sources say as part of his agreement he'll be required to make a public service message about predatory towing.
- 7:16Speaker 8: Do you believe that this was predatory on these victims?
- 7:21Speaker 10: I mean the insurance companies agreed and paid for an awfully long time and he was offering services.
- 7:26Speaker 10: I don't really have an opinion either way.
- 7:28Speaker 8: After serving house arrest, making restitution and recording that public service announcement.
- 7:34Speaker 8: His attorney says Fannick will try to put this matter behind him.
- 7:38Speaker 8: She says he is leaving the towing business for good.
- 7:42Speaker 2: This is a reminder to all tow truck operators that we need to keep a good image.
- 7:48Speaker 2: Here's a story out of Charlotte, North Carolina, about a tow truck driver unknowingly delivering a stolen SUV to thieves.
- 7:59Speaker 12: An unsuspecting tow truck driver was caught in the middle of an elaborate scheme.
- 8:04Speaker 12: A dealership needed an SUV towed and the tow truck driver unknowingly dropped it off right into the hands of the thieves.
- 8:12Speaker 12: All this according to court documents.
- 8:15Speaker 13: It all started here at this parking lot you see behind me.
- 8:18Speaker 13: According to a search warrant, a tow truck driver came here to pick up that SUV and take it down to a dealership in South Carolina.
- 8:25Speaker 13: But when he got here that vehicle was nowhere to be found, and it turns out that's because another tow company had already picked it up, not knowing they were helping thieves.
- 8:36Speaker 13: Sam Serhal says he's still dumbfounded at how he fell for a scam, innocently and unknowingly helping thieves steal a 2023 Chevrolet Suburban.
- 8:47Speaker 13: In January he signed up to tow the SUV off this lot on Remount Road and drop it off three miles away at this Goodwill parking lot on Wilkinson Boulevard.
- 8:57Speaker 13: We negotiated a price of $145.
- 9:00Speaker 13: He did the job and was paid through Zell.
- 9:03Speaker 13: But in hindsight he says some things were suspicious.
- 9:07Speaker 14: The guy called me says drop it at the end of the parking lot and hide the keys in the gas tank.
- 9:13Speaker 14: I said dude, this is a 2023 vehicle.
- 9:16Speaker 14: You sure you want to do that in Charlotte?
- 9:18Speaker 14: You know, I said I hate to tell you that Charlotte, the old Charlotte, doesn't exist anymore.
- 9:31Speaker 13: Court documents say it was all a scheme by crooks who tricked Sir Hall and Central Dispatch, who post towing jobs, into taking the car to this lot where thieves picked it up.
- 9:37Speaker 13: I was like holy cow.
- 9:39Speaker 13: That guy played us.
- 9:41Speaker 13: Here's how Sir Hall believes it happened.
- 9:42Speaker 13: He says a dealership in South Carolina bought the car from Enterprise in Charlotte.
- 9:47Speaker 13: The tow job was posted to Central Dispatch, asking for a company to tow the vehicle to the South Carolina dealership.
- 9:54Speaker 13: But instead Sir Hall believes someone hacked into Central Dispatch and acted as a transport company, a middleman, to swipe the vehicle, possibly even creating fraudulent documents to gain access to the car.
- 10:08Speaker 13: The fraudulent transport company then told Sirha their tow trucks could not fit in the lot to grab the SUV, so they asked Sirha's company for help.
- 10:19Speaker 13: Now Sam Sirha tells me everything seemed legit.
- 10:22Speaker 13: It is why he is warning other companies To keep your guards up, especially in the line of work of tow truck companies.
- 10:37Speaker 13: Meanwhile, according to that search warrant, investigators were trying to find the person on the other end of that Zelle account, but according to a police report, they exhausted all their leads and came up short.
- 10:45Speaker 13: A small little extra tidbit here for you that Zelle account, though, was actually tied to another stolen vehicle in Kentucky.
- 10:52Speaker 2: We'll keep you updated on this story.
- 10:53Speaker 2: Here's a story about a tow truck in an accident that led to driving into a person's house in Lebanon, Ohio.
- 11:03Speaker 12: A woman in Warren County is alive tonight thanks to the sound of snapping tree branches.
- 11:08Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 11:08Speaker 6: So Tracy Schonkweiler was nearly run over by a tow truck while she was resting in her living room.
- 11:14Speaker 15: This all happening near the corner of Warren and East Street in downtown Lebanon, a tarp now covering a gaping hole in the house you're looking at here on Warren Street in Lebanon that's divided into apartments.
- 11:23Speaker 15: Just before lunchtime today, a tow truck carrying a car on its bed.
- 11:25Speaker 15: The BED WAS IN THE LIVING ROOM OF HER APARTMENT.
- 11:26Speaker 15: The BED WAS IN THE LIVING ROOM OF HER HOUSE YOU'RE LOOKING AT HERE ON WARREN STREET IN LEBANON.
- 11:28Speaker 15: That's DIVIDED INTO APARTMENTS.
- 11:29Speaker 15: Just BEFORE LUNCHTIME TODAY, a TOW TRUCK CARRYING A CAR ON ITS.
- 11:32Speaker 16: BED BLASTED IN A TRACY SCHONKWEILER STREET LE the house.
- 11:35Speaker 16: She was in the living room.
- 11:36Speaker 16: She was in the living room.
- 11:37Speaker 15: She was in the living room.
- 11:39Speaker 16: Sean Wilder was watching TV from a bed that's in the living room of her apartment At least that's where the bed was before a tow truck slammed through her living room wall.
- 11:52Speaker 15: It made it into the house.
- 11:53Speaker 15: He was going pretty fast.
- 11:54Speaker 16: Sean Wilder told me crashes at the intersection of Warren Street and East Street are not uncommon, but the sound on my bed and got up and started running.
- 12:03Speaker 16: I was about three feet from the bed when the tow truck, with the vehicle on the bed, came crashing through.
- 12:09Speaker 16: If I hadn't gotten up I would have been underneath the vehicle and wouldn't be talking to you right now.
- 12:14Speaker 15: Police say the ordeal began when the driver of the tow truck collided with a pickup truck a few feet away from Shankweiler's apartment.
- 12:20Speaker 15: The force of that crash pushed the tow truck into the corner of a brick house next to where SHOCKWILER'S APARTMENT.
- 12:23Speaker 15: The FORCE OF THAT CRASH PUSHED THE TOE TRUCK INTO THE CORNER OF A BRICK HOUSE NEXT TO WHERE SHOCKWILER LIVES, before COMING TO A SCREECHING STOP IN HER LIVING SPACE.
- 12:29Speaker 15: Shook OUR WHOLE FOUNDATION, nick DAVIS, lives IN THE BRICK HOUSE.
- 12:32Speaker 15: That WAS HIT no-transcript.
- 12:52Speaker 15: Well, two other tenants raced out of their apartments, along with Tracy Schoenquiler, who just had enough time to throw a robe on.
- 12:57Speaker 15: All those tenants are being helped by the Red Cross tonight.
- 13:00Speaker 15: The investigation into this crash and whether or not speed played a role is now ongoing.
- 13:06Speaker 2: Here's a story out of Los Angeles about a robbery suspect running over a pedestrian with a tow truck.
- 13:13Speaker 10: We begin this afternoon with breaking news in South LA.
- 13:15Speaker 10: Reports of a robbery involving a tow truck, then a man run over and rushed to a hospital.
- 13:21Speaker 11: Police are, in fact still searching for the suspect.
- 13:24Speaker 11: The tow truck is actually here just a little over a mile away from where it was initially stolen.
- 13:30Speaker 11: Witnesses here telling us that the driver behind the wheel was driving so fast that smoke was coming out of the tire of one of the cars that was towed and also the front tire of the tow truck itself.
- 13:41Speaker 11: Jacqueline Reyes was walking to an appointment when she saw a man lying in the middle of the street near 39th and Broadway Just after 10 30 am.
- 13:51Speaker 11: Lapd says they first got a report of a robbery involving a tow truck and later a call of a pedestrian being struck.
- 13:58Speaker 11: Reyes says police and paramedics were rushing to help the man who was hit, eventually putting him on a stretcher and rushing him to the hospital.
- 14:06Speaker 11: In fact, you can still see his clothes in the middle of the street.
- 14:10Speaker 12: There was an injury reported as a result of the incident.
- 14:13Speaker 12: He right now appears to be in stable condition.
- 14:16Speaker 11: LAPD Detective Christabel Yousef telling us officers detained a person of interest at first but ended up letting them go.
- 14:23Speaker 11: The driver who stole the tow truck, speeding off later, dumping it near Normandy Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard before getting away, still canvassing and trying to sort everything out.
- 14:35Speaker 12: We don't want to put out anything prematurely.
- 14:37Speaker 11: At this point they are collecting and reviewing security camera footage and talking to witnesses to catch the person who did this, and investigators earlier were swabbing this car to try to find any DNA that'll link them to the suspect who stole this tow truck.
- 14:52Speaker 11: At this time they're just trying to get the tow truck in a way where it can be taken out.
- 14:57Speaker 2: We'll keep you updated on this story, listener.
- 15:01Speaker 2: Discretion ahead over a story of a tow truck driver's head getting run over by a man trying to flee a repo in Memphis, tennessee.
- 15:15Speaker 12: What appears to start as a routine repossession turns violent when a Memphis repo man gets underneath the wheel of a car and the driver backs over his head.
- 15:24Speaker 12: Ah F***.
- 15:29Speaker 17: F***.
- 15:30Speaker 12: Ah, oh, my God, I'm in my f***ing head Watch again from the beginning as the tow truck driver grabs the chains to secure this red Ford Focus a man runs behind him and hops into the driver's seat, turns on the ignition and hits reverse.
- 15:48Speaker 12: Memphis police say this unfolded just before 8 this morning here at the University Gardens Manor Apartments.
- 15:54Speaker 12: Get out of here.
- 15:55Speaker 12: Are you going to get sued boy folded?
- 15:56Speaker 12: Just before 8 this morning here at the University Gardens Manor Apartments, as the victim screams in pain, a woman can be seen disregarding him instead, directing the driver how to escape.
- 16:10Speaker 12: Memphis police say the man and woman fled the scene and miraculously, the victim is able to walk away, sharing his horrific experience on social media along with these pictures from his hospital bed showing his injuries.
- 16:24Speaker 12: Memphis police say the victim had abrasions on his head, a large black mark on the front of his sweatshirt, complained of arm pain and had to be shaken to be kept conscious.
- 16:36Speaker 8: It's hard to watch.
- 16:37Speaker 8: It's real hard to watch.
- 16:39Speaker 12: Neighbors who didn't want to be identified, all shaken by the video but also concerned with how the whole situation played out.
- 16:47Speaker 12: I feel sorry for him.
- 16:50Speaker 8: I don't think his job did him poor bro.
- 16:52Speaker 8: I don't think as a person that told cause he probably should have seen, he should have looked what was going on and decided not to put his head in the car.
- 17:01Speaker 12: Memphis police say a witness on scene told them they had sold that car to the woman in the video who they say wasn't making payments.
- 17:09Speaker 12: She told police she'd put the car up for repossession and contacted the repo man to pick it up.
- 17:15Speaker 2: We're praying for this tow truck operator's recovery and luckily we have news that the woman and man involved has been arrested.
- 17:27Speaker 18: All right, after the break I'll be right back.
- 17:33Speaker 19: Hi, I'm Perry Beatty.
- 17:34Speaker 19: Operate Flow Stop Hazmat Responder Network geared toward the towing and recovery industry with equipment and training for those individuals that respond to accidents that have fuel spills, cargo mishaps, helping them attain that business through hazmat certification put forth through OSHA.
- 18:01Speaker 1: Welcome back listeners.
- 18:02Speaker 1: You know you're listening to the new Towing News Channel.
- 18:06Speaker 1: Now I want to remind all of our listeners we are available on Spotify, itunes, pandora.
- 18:12Speaker 1: We are available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia the number one in the country Amazon or wherever you get your podcasts.
- 18:22Speaker 1: Remember to tune in every week to Towing News Channel.
- 18:28Speaker 18: And here's your Hazmat Hint of the Week with Perry Beatty.
- 18:33Speaker 19: Don't leave money on the table.
- 18:34Speaker 19: You're already on scene, Dominate the scene, Handle the entire cleanup from not only vehicle recovery but any spillage that takes place.
- 18:46Speaker 19: The government wants it cleaned up.
- 18:48Speaker 19: You must be HAZWOPER certified to do reportable quantities.
- 18:52Speaker 19: Now reportable quantities.
- 18:55Speaker 18: Now reportable quantities.
- 18:57Speaker 18: Does that change state by state?
- 19:01Speaker 19: It does.
- 19:01Speaker 19: 55 US gallons is what the federal government puts out.
- 19:05Speaker 19: However, the states can come in and go.
- 19:13Speaker 19: That's fine if you're in thus and so state, but here our reportable quantity is 30 gallons, or this state says 25 gallons, and if it's one gallon that hits a body of water that supports marine life, then that's the reportable quantity.
- 19:31Speaker 18: And it's just the right thing to do in that situation especially, isn't it Right?
- 19:34Speaker 18: Thank you for that hazmat hint, and it's just the right thing to do in that situation especially, isn't it Right?
- 19:39Speaker 9: Thank you for that Hazmat hint Perry let everybody know how to reach you.
- 19:41Speaker 19: You can contact me on my toll-free number, 877-356-9767, or email me direct at perry at hazmatrncom.
- 19:57Speaker 19: That's perry P-E-R-R-Y at hazmatrn, h-a-z-m-a-t-r-ncom.
- 20:12Speaker 20: Thanks for listening to Towing News.
- 20:13Speaker 20: Now let's revisit our interview with Perry Beatty from the Midwest Regional Tow Show in September.
- 20:20Speaker 20: The following interview provides you with great information and an opportunity to make your business more profitable.
- 20:27Speaker 17: Welcome back listeners.
- 20:28Speaker 17: You've been listening to the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilburn.
- 20:33Speaker 17: Dj Harrington, our special guest, is coming up in a minute.
- 20:36Speaker 17: Here, wes, let me turn it over to you and you introduce our guest and get him going here.
- 20:42Speaker 18: I certainly will.
- 20:43Speaker 18: You know, the towing industry is a great industry and you meet a lot of acquaintances and some friends and this gentleman here is a true friend has proven that to me over many decades.
- 20:53Speaker 18: When I got involved with rec master in the early 90s, education was not on a lot of people's minds as a matter of fact, it was ridiculed many times, etc.
- 21:05Speaker 18: This gentleman here that I'm about to introduce did exactly the opposite.
- 21:09Speaker 18: He was president of the north carolina towing and recovery profession.
- 21:11Speaker 18: Towing recovery professionals in north carolina excuse me, I got I'm about to introduce did exactly the opposite.
- 21:13Speaker 18: He was president of the North Carolina Towing and Recovery Professionals of North Carolina Excuse me, I got the name wrong and at that point that was a very strong organization with very strong leadership that did a lot of different things.
- 21:23Speaker 18: And this gentleman had an active towing business in Charlotte, north Carolina, and was president of the association I don't remember it was me and Terry or myself at first came and introduced the concept of rec master and formalized training to the association.
- 21:40Speaker 18: Instead of shunning us, perry Beatty did exactly the opposite.
- 21:46Speaker 18: He welcomed us with open arms, came to the class himself to see what was going on, didn't send his employees, came to the class himself to see what was going on, didn't send his employees, came to the class himself to see what was going on with it and then, when he liked what he saw, he activated the association to help support it with a scholarship program and hosted classes himself.
- 22:04Speaker 18: Like I say, he's become a friend, we became a friend.
- 22:08Speaker 18: I stayed in his home many times in those classes, which in the early days.
- 22:11Speaker 18: The hospitality was nice and also saving the money for a hotel room in the beginning was very nice as well.
- 22:19Speaker 18: We struggled to get education going in the industry.
- 22:21Speaker 18: So without further ado, I'd like to introduce Perry Beatty with FlowStop and Hazmat Responder Network.
- 22:27Speaker 18: Perry, would you take a moment and introduce yourself to the listeners?
- 22:32Speaker 19: Okay, thank you, wes.
- 22:33Speaker 19: You pretty well summed it up on how we got connected.
- 22:37Speaker 19: That was a big turning point in my days of towing and I've seen the boost that it put in the drivers once they came back from a training session.
- 22:52Speaker 19: I had the opportunity to change career paths.
- 22:59Speaker 18: Well, before we I don't mean to interrupt, but before we get there talk a little bit about your background.
- 23:03Speaker 18: How did you get involved in the towing industry?
- 23:06Speaker 19: Okay, well, I grew up working in my dad and uncle's service station in Charlotte as a kid and I think I got bit with a wrecker bug at about 10 years of age and by the time I was 14, I felt like I was pretty proficient on light-duty recovery.
- 23:25Speaker 19: And when I was 16, I think three days after I'd gotten my driver's license, I had to actually go out on a wreck response.
- 23:34Speaker 19: Call myself Car overturned down an embankment.
- 23:38Speaker 19: I'd been at it for six years riding shotgun.
- 23:42Speaker 19: It wasn't anything that scared me.
- 23:45Speaker 19: I knew exactly what to do and the bystanders and law enforcement just was in awe of a kid coming out and doing that.
- 23:53Speaker 19: And I built a reputation doing light duty recovery.
- 23:59Speaker 19: Didn't know this until I'd gotten on up in years, but as my friends retired from law enforcement, they would make the mention that if they ever had a serious accident and requested tow trucks, they were always hoping that it would be me to show up.
- 24:18Speaker 19: Then it wouldn't be an issue getting the road clear, and that thrilled me, knowing that I was looked at as such.
- 24:31Speaker 18: Now your father and your uncle.
- 24:33Speaker 18: They treated the towing business like a tire machine.
- 24:35Speaker 18: Right, it was just another piece of the service station.
- 24:38Speaker 18: That's it.
- 24:39Speaker 19: My dad didn't think that towing alone would afford a business platform and I disagreed.
- 24:49Speaker 19: I seen the opportunity and I disagreed.
- 24:50Speaker 19: I seen the opportunity Now going back.
- 24:52Speaker 19: I graduated from high school, had to register with the Selective Service.
- 24:58Speaker 19: There was a little war game going on in Southeast Asia called Vietnam Right, and it's the only lottery that I've ever won.
- 25:07Speaker 19: My number was three.
- 25:09Speaker 19: So when I got called up the third time, I threw the towel in.
- 25:13Speaker 19: I was pretty much a draft dodger and I was going to a community college to stay out of the military because fighting wasn't anything on my bucket list.
- 25:25Speaker 19: But I went in, served two years active duty, came back my dad asked me to come back and help him and I told him I said the only thing that I want to focus on is towing.
- 25:36Speaker 19: So I had the opportunity.
- 25:39Speaker 19: Five years later I bought his interest in the towing part of it out, moved away from the service station and then started building up and got in the heavy A couple years after I'd left the service station bought a set of lift cushions and we were off and running.
- 26:05Speaker 18: Well, as the producers say, it's time to take a break.
- 26:07Speaker 18: So we're going to take a quick break, hang around, and we're going to talk more about what Perry's doing today.
- 26:12Speaker 9: So we're going to take a quick break, hang around and we're going to talk more about what Perry's doing today For electric and other alternative fuel vehicles.
- 26:18Speaker 9: We have developed an app that gives you all the manufacturers 411 for when that 911 happens, whether you are a fire tow or police, we got you covered.
- 26:28Speaker 9: To find the EV Clever app, go to your Apple or Google Play store for a 30-day free trial.
- 26:34Speaker 2: We also offer the National Tow Operator Certification, an independently sourced virtual testing program covering light duty, heavy duty, electric and alternative fuel vehicle.
- 26:47Speaker 17: All right guys, welcome back.
- 26:49Speaker 17: We are live from the Midwest Regional Tow Show.
- 26:51Speaker 17: We have one of the greatest guys in the industry as our guest, perry Beatty.
- 26:57Speaker 17: That I've known for years, but I have to tell everyone, just like Wes and I, this is a gentleman who stands for the flag and kneels for the cross.
- 27:07Speaker 17: So he believes in our industry and we believe in Perry so much.
- 27:13Speaker 17: So, wes, I'll turn it back over to you and I thank you, wes, for bringing him on to the episode, because he's our type of guy.
- 27:21Speaker 18: Dragged him in, kicking and screaming kind of like you did to me, dj.
- 27:24Speaker 18: Kind of like you did to me, hey.
- 27:26Speaker 17: I got to tell you you were number three in the draft.
- 27:29Speaker 17: I was number seven in the draft and I became the librarian at Port Dix, new Jersey.
- 27:37Speaker 18: Yeah, I registered for that, but no draft was going on when I was of age.
- 27:43Speaker 17: We won the lottery that year yeah.
- 27:47Speaker 18: God bless you all for serving the country.
- 27:48Speaker 18: All right, so tell us how you got from starting your own towing only operation I know you built it up real big how you got from there to where you are today okay, um, fast forward a decade from the 80s to the beginning of the 90s.
- 28:08Speaker 19: Um, the program has whopperER is put together by the federal government.
- 28:15Speaker 19: Right, they use three different agencies.
- 28:18Speaker 19: You've got DOT, epa and OSHA.
- 28:23Speaker 19: Okay, osha is the law.
- 28:25Speaker 19: They came together, published March 6, 1990, the HAZWOPER program, and it fell in with Superfund sites, abandoned sites that had contaminated property and so forth.
- 28:43Speaker 19: Those had to be taken care of not to spread disease, and so forth.
- 28:46Speaker 19: Well then, it got to where.
- 28:47Speaker 19: If there was an accident on the highway and a substantial hydrocarbon spill diesel fuel, if you will that had to be cleaned up.
- 28:57Speaker 19: And there's another deal that was published in 76, referred to as RACRA, which is Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and it basically means restoring the property back to its original state.
- 29:14Speaker 19: So if you have an accident that spills 50, 100 gallons of diesel, all that has to be cleaned up and put right back in the original state before the accident.
- 29:25Speaker 19: Well, in doing so, the government requires the individuals that engage in that to be HAZWOPER certified, right?
- 29:34Speaker 19: Okay, so we were going out to accidents involving spills, but yet I had the ability, the equipment and the knowledge to do it, but I didn't have what they referred to as certification, so they wouldn't allow me to do it.
- 29:50Speaker 19: And in baseball you get to go to the plate and swing three times and miss and you're out, right.
- 29:57Speaker 19: So where I'm leading into, we had a jackknife in Charlotte on one of the interstates.
- 30:04Speaker 19: Rush hour traffic Got there.
- 30:07Speaker 19: Trooper told me to get it out of the road, but a man in civilian clothes told me not to touch it.
- 30:13Speaker 19: He was with the EPA and they didn't want to do any cross-contamination.
- 30:17Speaker 19: They had a company coming out that was going to sifle off the tank so it wouldn't leak any further and clean up what it had spilled.
- 30:26Speaker 19: Well, they had a 20-minute ETA that turned into two and a half hours.
- 30:32Speaker 19: Oh, wow, okay.
- 30:34Speaker 19: The media with their live-eye helicopter flying around showing my heavy on the side of the interstate.
- 30:42Speaker 19: Naturally your fake news.
- 30:45Speaker 19: They say the wrecker can't handle moving the truck and that was not the case, right.
- 30:51Speaker 19: Two more of those deals happened within about a month's period.
- 30:55Speaker 19: So I got heated up enough where I called to find out what you had to do to do that kind of work get certified and the person I spoke to in the north carolina epa directed me to a training facility and I took two of my people.
- 31:13Speaker 19: We went and got certified and over a period of about five months I put another company together, now Charlotte's in what's called the Piedmont of the Carolinas.
- 31:25Speaker 19: So I thought a hundred mile radius is going to be about my best response area.
- 31:31Speaker 19: So I'll call this Piedmont Environmental Response Team and then use the acronym PERC.
- 31:38Speaker 19: So we started off.
- 31:40Speaker 19: All our literature said have a spill, make it a PERC alert, all right.
- 31:46Speaker 19: So we were doing a lot of towing for a lot of your common carriers.
- 31:52Speaker 19: I won't name them all, but I had a good of telling for a lot of your common carriers.
- 31:55Speaker 19: I won't name them all, but I had a good list of about a dozen and I already had a rapport with their safety directors for working their accidents, went to them, told them what our new services were, that we were offering Instant client base and we stayed up with keeping up with the latest technology as far as equipment and so forth.
- 32:18Speaker 19: I got to the point where I could even test the soil on scene to make sure that I'd removed all the contaminated dirt before I did a backfill seed and straw.
- 32:30Speaker 19: So I sell the business in 98, and I stay on with the company until the end of 99, and I go home.
- 32:41Speaker 19: Well, I kind of milled around with a couple ideas and I came up with a lightweight, chemical, hydrocarbon-resistant inflatable that would block off the exit ports of storm drains that are static drain lines, and I put the name FlowStop on it.
- 33:00Speaker 19: That's what it does stops the flow and I received a patent in 2004 for that.
- 33:06Speaker 19: And it just enlarged.
- 33:10Speaker 19: We just came up with more product offering and it just enlarged.
- 33:14Speaker 19: We just came up with more product offering.
- 33:17Speaker 19: And then, at the urging of Tor's wife asking me to show them how to do that, I went and got certified as an instructor and then put HazMat Responder Network together and I traveled around the eastern seaboard doing HAZWOPER classes.
- 33:35Speaker 18: Texas is not the eastern seaboard, perry Well.
- 33:37Speaker 19: I know, but I love those guys down there.
- 33:40Speaker 18: Shout out to Mike and Laney Phillips great people, oh yeah, so yeah.
- 33:45Speaker 18: And so, as he says, the eastern seaboard, it's more than just that.
- 33:49Speaker 18: I don't know at least east of the Mississippi.
- 33:52Speaker 18: Hang around.
- 33:52Speaker 18: Eastern seaboard, it's more than just that.
- 33:53Speaker 18: I don't.
- 33:53Speaker 18: At least east of the mississippi?
- 33:53Speaker 18: Uh, hang around.
- 33:54Speaker 18: We're going to take a quick break and we're going to get right into what the hazmat responder network is and what it can help you with the best towing companies offer a combination of great training, efficient operations, along with quality supplies.
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- 34:26Speaker 10: All towing supplies and equipment are made from the latest technology and we supply products from the most respected brands in the towing industry, offering the widest variety of towing supplies and equipment in New England.
- 34:38Speaker 10: If you're not using the latest towing equipment, there's a good chance your company has fallen behind.
- 34:44Speaker 10: Savvy consumers can quickly tell which towing companies provide the best service.
- 34:48Speaker 10: In many cases, the quality of your equipment and supplies can make a huge difference.
- 34:53Speaker 10: Our representatives are knowledgeable in the towing industry, so for the best towing equipment and supplies, count on the team at Towing Equipment Direct.
- 35:01Speaker 10: Browse our catalog online at towingequipmentdirectcom or give us a call at 910-747-9000.
- 35:10Speaker 10: That's 910-747-9000.
- 35:12Speaker 10: We look forward to serving you.
- 35:16Speaker 17: Welcome back, guys.
- 35:16Speaker 17: We're live at the Midwest Regional Tow Show.
- 35:19Speaker 17: As you probably know from this episode, wes Wilburn, dj Harrington, the Tow Doctor, and our special guest, perry Beatty.
- 35:26Speaker 17: Wonderful interview I want all of you to remember.
- 35:30Speaker 17: Share us with your friends, with fellow towers, our hotline if you want to hear more guests like Perry, just dial 706-409-5603 and let Wes and I know that's who you'd like to hear on another episode and we'll do our best, like we've been doing here at the Midwest Regional Tow Show up here in Mason Ohio.
- 35:52Speaker 18: Wes, let me turn it over to you so you developed the Flow Stop product, took on a whole line of products to help the towing industry and then got involved in the Hazmat Responders Network, which is an educational format which matter to our listeners.
- 36:12Speaker 18: I've done the 40-hour course.
- 36:14Speaker 18: I've done the eight-hour tank update.
- 36:16Speaker 18: I don't know that I said that perfect on the update but I've done them both.
- 36:21Speaker 18: Perry, it's not only informative, perry's an interesting speaker that can keep you interested in the subject matter.
- 36:26Speaker 18: Let's face it that subject matter can be slightly dry at times and Perry does a good job of keeping it interesting and keeping it moving and sharing with you information that actually relates to your day-to-day operations, more than just going by the book and spouting out a bunch of technical information.
- 36:43Speaker 18: That's one of the things I like about his instructional style.
- 36:46Speaker 18: So, perry, go ahead where we left off and keep moving forward with how you developed this thing.
- 36:55Speaker 19: Okay With HazMat Responder Network.
- 36:58Speaker 19: No one was specifically assisting the towing market on doing spill response, on doing spill response, and it was a big plus if a company had the ability to do both the cleanup and the recovery of the vehicle.
- 37:19Speaker 19: And the authorities love you know as well as I do one call gets it all covered so they don't have two different entities in the way of each other getting a job done.
- 37:30Speaker 19: So a lot of Hazmat Responder Network is a lot of classroom for all your regulations and rules that are set up through those three agencies.
- 37:45Speaker 19: I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast beginning of the podcast However, a lot of what I experienced actually in the field doing the work I bring to the table, offering this in the same training.
- 38:02Speaker 19: Well, we get a lot of tanker overturns In doing so.
- 38:07Speaker 19: There's three main cargo tanks that haul Class III, which are your hydrocarbon flammable fluids, and then your Class VI chemicals poisons, and your Class VIII, which are your corrosives.
- 38:22Speaker 19: They're all hauled in three different type of cargo tank trailers.
- 38:26Speaker 19: So I took it upon myself to build these with all the apparatus and importance that you'll find on these, and show how to safely ground and bond and transfer those products.
- 38:40Speaker 18: Yeah, so just to clarify with our listeners, he built demos that are just like the real tank, but it's a tabletop version where you can roll it into a garage bay and one of them, actually, he puts an aluminum slide in there and you get the sensation or the experience of drilling the side of a tanker for a pump-off.
- 39:04Speaker 18: I did it.
- 39:04Speaker 18: There's pictures of me on Facebook doing it at the class, but these are desktop mini tankers that can be rolled into a classroom and trained and they're an excellent training tool.
- 39:15Speaker 18: Excellent training tool.
- 39:17Speaker 19: The one that I have built that simulates a fuel hauler.
- 39:21Speaker 19: We can rotate 90 degrees to simulate an overturn.
- 39:26Speaker 19: And the beauty of it.
- 39:27Speaker 19: Everything on it is designed to fail.
- 39:30Speaker 19: Okay, and with that being said, we have the tools and the equipment to stop the leaks so we can prepare it for offload.
- 39:39Speaker 19: And then, once we offload it, then we stand it upright again and we can show everybody how you approach that, to stop leaks and so forth, to get it prepared to transfer the load and then safely upright.
- 39:56Speaker 18: And the same with chemical and corrosive haulers too and you hold these classes all over the I'm going to say east of the mississippi is more accurate, not trying to correct you, but yeah, um, if somebody wants to do a class on their own or attend a class, how do they get in touch with you?
- 40:15Speaker 19: Well, if they contact me, Hazmat Responder, network Flow Stop.
- 40:20Speaker 19: Both share the same toll-free number.
- 40:22Speaker 19: They call that any time.
- 40:24Speaker 19: I'm like the old-school tow truck driver I'll answer the phone any time you do the same.
- 40:31Speaker 18: Yeah, what is that toll-free number?
- 40:32Speaker 19: It's 877-356-9767.
- 40:39Speaker 19: That's correct.
- 40:42Speaker 18: Good, we have you checking.
- 40:43Speaker 18: What about a website?
- 40:44Speaker 19: Website is hazmatrn for Responder Network hazmatrncom.
- 40:56Speaker 18: So, Perry, why should a towing company consider getting involved in this and not just letting some other entity do this?
- 41:03Speaker 18: I mean, are they leaving money on the ground?
- 41:06Speaker 19: Well, absolutely.
- 41:08Speaker 19: This would broaden out their scope of performance and services offered, and it's not just limited to traffic accidents.
- 41:18Speaker 19: Once we got established and known with the authorities, companies started calling us for like a loading dock, mishap spills on private property, construction, so forth, and it was a good revenue producer, so it also assisted in getting the road opened up.
- 41:42Speaker 19: Like I mentioned earlier, the authorities really appreciated that, so it opened a lot more doors and it even created more business for the towing side of things, because we had that ability to do it all.
- 41:58Speaker 18: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
- 41:59Speaker 18: Different towing companies I know around the country have done that.
- 42:02Speaker 18: That's one of the things they talk about and forward-thinking companies work with other towing companies that develop their hazmat company work with other towing companies that develop their hazmat company work with other towing companies.
- 42:13Speaker 18: I know John Redmond in Virginia is one that I know personally that developed a cleanup company and works with other towing companies.
- 42:20Speaker 18: It's simply business and it's simple business decisions.
- 42:25Speaker 18: So when somebody comes and takes their 40-hour course, how long does that certification last for?
- 42:34Speaker 18: Is it a certification or qualification?
- 42:37Speaker 19: No, it's a certification, okay, okay, and it's good for 12 months.
- 42:41Speaker 19: At the conclusion of the 12 months following the training, then OSHA requires the technician to have eight hours annual refresher so they don't have to go through the 40-hour course again.
- 42:58Speaker 19: Just on a yearly basis, an eight-hour refresher right and then I offer that tank class as a annual refresher it's a one-day class and also have a refresher for incident commander.
- 43:11Speaker 19: On-scene supervisor.
- 43:13Speaker 18: Okay.
- 43:14Speaker 19: Yeah.
- 43:15Speaker 18: And not only towing operators, but fire personnel and whatnot.
- 43:20Speaker 18: Take this 40-hour course with you.
- 43:22Speaker 19: Sometimes the fire service has sent reps and firefighters to it, but bear in mind they don't do cleanup and disposal.
- 43:34Speaker 19: So there's three levels of hazmat.
- 43:38Speaker 19: You've got your awareness.
- 43:39Speaker 19: That's only eight hours and the only thing that you're able to do is witness and respond as far as reporting to authorities.
- 43:50Speaker 19: Then you have operation, which is a 24-hour course and it allows you to remotely stop the spill from spreading.
- 44:00Speaker 19: But then you have technician, which allows you to go in, stop it at the source of the leak, clean it up and dispose of it according to the EPA OSHA guidelines.
- 44:14Speaker 18: So one of the things you bring to the table is to help folks keep up with all these different what they can do, what they can't do, etc.
- 44:21Speaker 18: And can back it up with validation.
- 44:24Speaker 18: Exactly, that's huge, because that's a whole jungle in itself, isn't it?
- 44:29Speaker 19: and when we conclude the 40-hour class, uh, I give a list of vendors that have uh products and services that'll help them.
- 44:39Speaker 19: It's not locked in on that, but it gives them a starting point where to go for supplies and uh like insurance, for that matter to cover it so.
- 44:51Speaker 18: So it's a full service organization, organization helping the towing operator.
- 44:55Speaker 18: Completely go in that direction.
- 44:57Speaker 18: I try to leave no rock unturned.
- 44:59Speaker 18: God bless you.
- 45:00Speaker 18: You've always been very thorough like that.
- 45:02Speaker 18: Anything you'd like to share with us in closing?
- 45:08Speaker 19: I'm just pleased to see people take on elevating their service level up Right and I've seen a lot of success in the past eight years.
- 45:22Speaker 18: Yeah, and I've seen a lot of it as well.
- 45:24Speaker 18: You've helped a lot of organizations grow their business and be able to take care of their families better and that's huge and control their own destiny a little bit too.
- 45:33Speaker 18: Everybody knows the value of that.
- 45:36Speaker 18: Well, perry, I can't thank you enough for taking time on a busy morning.
- 45:40Speaker 18: The show is open.
- 45:41Speaker 18: There's people all over the floor and I got Perry away from his booth, so we're going to kick him out of here.
- 45:45Speaker 18: We're going to thank him and kick him out of here and let him go back to his booth to answer questions.
- 45:49Speaker 18: It looks like he's got to line up from here.
- 45:50Speaker 18: So, perry, thank you so much for taking your time on this busy morning.
- 45:54Speaker 17: Wes thanks for having me, Perry.
- 45:57Speaker 17: Thank you very much.
- 45:58Speaker 17: You guys have all been listening to the American Tone Recovery Institute podcast Wes Wilburn and DJ Harry.
- 46:05Speaker 18: I want to thank all our listeners for listening, click, like and enjoy.
- 46:09Speaker 18: Be safe out there there and God bless.