The practice of towing companies paying police for pick up tip offs, has hit the headlines and the air waves in the UK, as figures have emerged about the scale of the money that UK police forces generated from the practice. Critics have said that police are profiting from drivers' misfortune and many recovery operators have called for the practice to be abolished.

The days of the brown envelope handed to a patrol driver may be largely gone, but most forces now operate a formal system where police receive an ‘administration fee’ from a called out company. The cost is usually around £25 and of course it is the driver who eventually picks up the charge, either through payment on the call-out, or through increased insurance premiums.

Figures released under a Freedom of information request show that West Midlands Police raked in £622,275 from recovery contractors last year with similar figures generated by other forces.

As these figures came to light and were reported in the press, there was anger from many recovery operators and drivers about what they perceive as an unnecessary rip off. This culminated in a phone-in debate on the Talksport national radio station.