Twombls t1_j07er3u wrote
Town ordinances requiring legally parked cars to be towed just because they look decrepit are so stupid.
However it is a tough call when they break down in the way of things. Like the infamous burlington bus.
MarkVII88 t1_j07jjb5 wrote
That whole bus incident this past summer at Jake's Market in Burlington was not a "breakdown". Those moochers simply ran out of diesel, and parked-up at a place they thought they could inconvenience and take advantage of until some poor sap paid to fill up their tank. It wouldn't look good for Jake's, or any other business, if they had immediately gotten that bus towed. That would have been counter to the image Jake's was trying to cultivate as a community-minded, neighborhood hub and shop and would have portrayed them as heartless and greedy. Of course that's where the bus "broke down".
Twombls t1_j07mf6e wrote
They also had thousands of well meaning but misslead college students following them on social media and ready to go off the minute things didn't go their way.
Burlington is really ripe for scammers
Real-Pierre-Delecto2 t1_j07gjx3 wrote
Legally? Don't think any town around these parts would let me park my car for days/weeks without it getting towed eventually. No matter the condition. And quite frankly towns don't want this getting out of hand. Understandably.
Twombls t1_j07gnxn wrote
Some of the cars in this were required to be towed from private lots. Even if they had permission from the lots owner.
Real-Pierre-Delecto2 t1_j07h9yw wrote
That's a different story see my reply below. It's one thing in a ok place walmart etc but in a town parking space na sorry.
Edit I reread the article and found no instance of anything being towed from private property. Complaints yes towing no. The one here was parked at a McDonalds no wonder they had it towed and thats well within the company's rights.
JerryKook OP t1_j07jl34 wrote
TheShandyMan t1_j08nbu0 wrote
> They declined the city’s offer to tow the bus because the vehicle was in too poor condition to handle it, they said.
This tells me one of two things. Either the bus was in such poor shape that it absolutely should not have ever been on the road or that the owners knew if they made themselves a big enough nuisance that someone would "fix" the breakdown for them for free / cheaper than a service call.
Since the article also notes that a mechanic eventually showed up to prime the engine and get it moving again; I'm voting in favor of the latter, with the added kicker that the owners of the bus are idiots who should have their licenses revoked.
Running out of fuel in a diesel vehicle is certainly a bigger PITA than doing so with a gas car but getting a prime almost never takes more than 1 or wrench. Crack open the line on the fuel pump, crank engine until the bubbles stop coming out the the line. Tighten it, then do the same thing on your injectors*. Should take less than 10 minutes and is absolutely something every owner of a diesel should know how to do on their vehicle. 10 seconds on google gives you dozens of videos and articles showing you exactly how to do it.
* Technically most diesels you can get away with just cranking the engine in 30-40 second bursts given enough time for the starter to cool down between attempts but this is more abusive to the starter and depending on how badly you lost the prime you can kill your batteries before you actually get it started.
Jerry_Williams69 t1_j0afl2u wrote
With most on-highway diesels, thee fuel pre-filters usually have an integrated hand pump primer or an electric priming pump.
cpujockey t1_j085wds wrote
lol nimby
siltanator t1_j09h92v wrote
It wasn’t a backyard it was a parking lot. Nimjonemply (not in my Jake’s one market parking Lot)
cpujockey t1_j09hd12 wrote
Well thank you for clarifying - I wasn't sure and thought the town was just straight up towing all the things.
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