What it does
The Tow Truck Industry Act 1998 (NSW) establishes a comprehensive licensing and regulatory regime for the tow truck industry, with particular emphasis on accident towing. At its core, the Act prohibits unlicensed operation: s 15 makes it an offence for a person to carry on business as a tow truck operator without a tow truck operators licence that authorises the specific kind of towing work being performed (maximum penalty 100 penalty units or 12 months imprisonment or both). Similarly, s 23(1) prohibits any person from driving, standing, using or operating a licensed tow truck on a road or road related area, or towing for fee or reward in a non-licensed tow truck, unless the person holds a drivers certificate (maximum penalty 50 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment or both). These twin licensing requirements are supported by a detailed definitional framework in Part 1.
Section 3(1) defines “accident” as any collision, impact or other event resulting in damage to a motor vehicle, and “accident towing work” as the towing or carrying away of a vehicle involved in an accident from the scene or from a place to which it has been moved. “Tow truck” is given an expansive meaning in s 4(1), encompassing any motor vehicle equipped with a lifting device, trailer, towing attachment, tilt table-top, self-loading table-top or any other vehicle prescribed by regulation; exclusions are permitted by regulation under s 4(2). The concept of “tow” itself is defined inclusively in s 3(1) to cover lifting, carrying on a trailer or any prescribed action, but may exclude activities declared by regulation.
The Act creates two classes of regulatory instruments. Tow truck operators licences (Part 3 Division 1) are issued by the Secretary (defined in s 3(1) as the Secretary of the Department of Customer Service) and may be endorsed with different classes relating to different kinds of towing work (s 16). Drivers certificates (Part 3 Division 2) are issued to natural persons and are similarly class-specific (s 24). Both may be granted for 1, 3 or 5 years (ss 22 and 31), subject to fitness, qualification and public-interest criteria. Applications must disclose close associates (s 5), place of business, holding yards and tow trucks (s 17), and the Secretary is required to refuse on mandatory grounds (age under 18, certain convictions within 10 years, disqualification, controlled membership of a declared organisation, or criminal-intelligence-based association with such an organisation – s 18(2)) and may refuse on discretionary grounds including lack of fitness, unsuitable premises or contrary to public interest (s 18(3)). Parallel provisions apply to drivers certificates (s 26).