Bogus ticket and towing

What is the name of your state? Texas - My son was pulled over this evening for of all things "digging out". Never heard that term before and can't find it anywhere under Texas moving violations. Squeeling his wheels is what it comes down too. Issued a ticket for that. Issued another ticket for not having his insurance card in his vehicle. My son wasn't allowed to enter his car to get his phone to call me so one of his friends in another car with him called me. I jumped in my car and arrived at the same time a tow truck got there. I tried going over the the police but he abruptly stated "sir go back to your car". I did. I then shouted at the tow truck driver why was he towing it and if I could pay the towing charge right there. He stated it was being towed because there was no proof of insurance. I said I had a copy of the insurance in my car and I would pay cash. He said wait a minute, got in his truck and came back and said the lot is just 2 miles away, that he had to tow it. He hadn't even touched the car. I met him at the towing location, about a mile away and provided them with my insurance card. That's when they really started in with charges - they charged me an impound fee $20, a towing charge $75, a flatbed charge $40, storage (they didn't even open the gates to the lot) charge $20 plus tax. The car was never stored, by the time they removed it from the tow truck I had already paid their ransom of $158.30 and my son got in and drove home.

Kicker here is since when do they start towing for not having proof of insurance? Next, what kind of towing company wouldn't let me pay the towing charge right there - I'll tell you what kind, one that wants to rack up extra charges.

Any thoughts?

It is not uncommon to tow a car for lack of insurance. Most of the commercials on television I've seen for car insurance show the car being towed away because the driver did not have insurance.

Drivers, once assigned to a tow, are often times not allowed to give the car as it requires somebody in the office to check your ID and run your information to verify that the vehicle is yours (even it ends up being the driver that ends up in the office to do all this).

I would be surprised if they (the LEO and towing company) are on the correct side of the law in that situation (we would have to scrubb the state code to verify). Since you did have the proof of insurance the towing company had to right to take the vehicle for the charge of not having proof of insurance. Policy of towing company has no basis in law.

You could take it to civil court but it wouldn't merit the trouble unless you want justice.

Another route would be the governers office and a consumer fraud complaint against the towing company.

Bogus ticket?
The name "digging out" is not the official name of the charge.
I've never heard it called that. Peeling out, spinning out, burning rubber, laying rubber, chirping tars, etc, but never digging out. Must be a regional thing, but even these euphemisms aren't the name of the charge.

What was the citation number on the ticket?

No citation #

There was no citation number just "DIGGING OUT" according to the city it also carries a $245.00 fine.