In Hamilton, Ontario, police have taken decisive action against several illegal towing companies accused of fraud, intimidation, and predatory behavior at crash scenes.
Nearly 40 charges have been laid, 10 towing licenses have been suspended or revoked, and multiple companies have been banned from operating on the city’s roads.
This enforcement effort falls under Project Barrier, a dedicated police operation launched in response to a surge in unsafe and unethical practices by certain tow truck operators.
According to police, the concerns included uninvited tow trucks showing up at accident scenes, pressuring shocked or injured drivers into signing consent forms, and charging excessive or undisclosed fees after the fact.
While these issues aren’t new to Ontario, authorities say the situation has been escalating. Companies named in the investigation—such as Provincial Roadside Services, High Class Recovery, Onsite Towing, Royal Roadside, and Recovery Reliable Towing—are alleged to have developed calculated methods for exploiting drivers in vulnerable moments. The allegations include overcharging, misrepresentation, and even interfering with law enforcement or other legitimate towing providers.
Project Barrier not only seeks to remove these players from the road but also to prevent them from resurfacing under different names. Hamilton Police say they are working closely with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to permanently revoke the licenses and business credentials of the implicated companies.
Organized Crime, Fraud, and Turf Wars
Hamilton is far from an isolated case. In recent years, the towing industry in southern Ontario has been rocked by escalating tensions and in some cases, outright violence. Project Yankee, a previous investigation, uncovered an organized crime network engaged in arson, shootings, and murder plots as part of an effort to control the lucrative towing market in the Greater Toronto Area.
In the Peel and Brampton regions, another major investigation—Project Outsource—revealed a criminal group tied to companies like Certified Roadside and Humble Roadside. Police allege the group staged dozens of fake collisions to defraud insurers, with each fake claim costing between $80,000 and $100,000. The operation led to 18 arrests and nearly 100 charges.
Further west in Cambridge, tensions boiled over when two tow truck drivers physically fought at a crash scene, resulting in 21 charges. One of the vehicles involved was also pulled from service for being non-compliant with provincial standards.
Similar abuses have been reported outside Ontario as well. In Edmonton, Alberta, police charged 11 owners tied to 10 towing companies for allegedly defrauding insurance providers through inflated billing and unauthorized charges. Investigators reported cases where vehicles were unlawfully held until full payment was made—an act deemed coercive and exploitative.
A Loophole-Ridden Industry
Partial deregulation, the lack of oversight in dispatching and contracting, and the fierce competition to reach crash scenes first have combined to create an industry vulnerable to misconduct.
Operations like Project Barrier reflect the growing determination of authorities to restore order to a sector that, when left unchecked, can quickly become a breeding ground for unethical and even criminal activity—parallels that some say echo the Driver Inc. controversy that continues to shake the Canadian trucking industry.
