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The City of Winnipeg claims a towing company didn’t submit all the money it owes for towing motor vehicles police ordered to be removed.
The Winnipeg Police Service calls for vehicles to be towed when drivers are found to be impaired, unlicensed or suspended, and for other reasons.
The city, which contracted Tartan Towing in 2019 to do removal and storage of vehicles for police, is now suing the business. The lawsuit alleges Tartan didn’t submit a cost-recovery fee of $25 per vehicle to the city.
A statement of claim filed in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench on April 16 says Tartan was to provide a report for all vehicles towed each month and to pay the city the $25 fee for each.
The court document says the city sent Tartan a demand in February 2026 for $301,808 owing under the contract. That amount includes $146,900 for the $25 fee on 5,876 tows, $147,563 in monthly two per cent interest and $7,345 in GST, the document says.
“To date, Tartan has failed to pay any of the outstanding CRF [cost-recovery fee] amounts under the terms of the 2019 contract that are due and owing to the city, and interest continues to accrue on those accounts,” the city’s claim says, adding there were some unpaid fees dating back to 2014 under prior contracts with Tartan.
It also says that on March 3, 2026, “Tartan sent correspondence to the WPS, through counsel, denying that it owed any amounts to the city in relation to CRFs under the 2019 contract.”
CBC News contacted a company called 5174245 Manitoba Ltd., which operates as Tartan Towing, for comment on the lawsuit but did not get a response before publication.
The company has not filed a statement of defence, and the allegations have not been tested in court.
The city’s lawsuit seeks unspecified amounts of general and special damages, interest and costs, in amounts to be determined at trial.
It’s not the first time the city and Tartan Towing have filed lawsuits against each other. The city sued the company in 2023, and Tartan sued the city in 2021 and last year.
Those prior lawsuits have not been resolved in court.
Interim city communications director David Driedger said in an email that the city “is not able to comment while the matter is before the courts.”