Some Vancouver tow truck drivers are towing vehicles that are not adequately secured, putting people and cars at risk, and in violation of the province's safety regulations, a CBC News investigation has found.

Busters Towing has a contract with the City of Vancouver to remove illegally parked cars or cars seized for driving violations from the city streets.

According to a video recorded by a concerned citizen, the tow truck drivers are often picking up the cars and towing them without strapping the wheels in place or chaining the vehicles to their truck.

As a result, the vehicles are held in place only by gravity as they're manoeuvred through city traffic.

"Somebody is going to get killed," the man who captured the video told CBC News. He asked that his identity not be made public because he said he fears retaliation from tow truck drivers.

"It's just really a matter of time before a tow truck hits a bump and the car comes off. And then at that point ... worst case scenario, it goes up onto a sidewalk and hits a pedestrian or somebody who's not in a vehicle that's protected," he said.

Citizen confronted

In the incident caught on video, the man tracked the tow truck for four blocks, before finding it parked on a side-street, where the operator eventually strapped down the tires and properly secured the vehicle.

"Aren't you supposed to do that when you pick up the car?" the man asked the driver.

As seen on the video, the driver then asks how the man would like it if the phone with which the man was making the recording was dropped to the pavement and broken. The man kept recording without incident.

The driver pulls over several blocks away and secures the vehicle properly. CBCCBC News also recorded another incident of a Busters tow truck driver not properly securing a vehicle before driving away with the car in tow.

Provincial Motor Vehicle act regulations stipulate that vehicles being towed on wheel lifts must be secured by tire straps, chains to the frame or axle of the vehicle being towed.

When asked about the practice by drivers, Busters spokesman Verne Campbell said the company would investigate.

“We will be looking into it and we’ll be taking action where action can be taken,” Campbell told CBC News.

Busters' drivers are paid a commission based on the number of cars they tow.

'Lethal weapon'

Commercial driving instructor Robert Douglas, of North Shore Driving School’s commercial truck driving division says the practice is deadly dangerous.

"Until that load is secure, it's a lethal weapon. Like somebody driving down the road with a gun in their hand," he said.

"I just sit back and I shake my head, and figure, you know. There are idiots out there that are unsafe — not only to themselves but to the public as well, and that's just not right," said Douglas.

The man who shot the video said he has complained to Vancouver police, city hall, ICBC and the Motor Vehicle Branch and to Busters Towing themselves, all to no avail.

The man who shot the video says he is hopeful that taking the story to the CBC Investigates team will prompt a crackdown, by the authorities and by management at Busters Towing as well.

*It just would just be a shame if some somebody, innocent person walking down the street or riding their bike, or, is going to get killed because they want to make a couple extra bucks on a tow," he said.

With files from the CBC's Eric Rankin