Herb's Towing

Herb Vink SR
Founder & Entrepreneur

Herb Vink Sr. opened his first garage in 1957 on Green Lane Rd. in Hawkesbury. He met his future wife Imelda and they married in 1962. He re-located his business to l’Orignal on Highway 17 and realizing a niche business was needed, he began building towing equipment and tow trucks. He started to customize the trucks and soon was building and selling tow trucks that ranged in size up to 50 tons! Almost 300 specialized custom tow trucks were sold across Canada and the United States.

In 1977 Herb Sr. had a vision for future expansion in this Eastern Ontario region so he bought property on the new highway 417 that linked Ontario to Quebec. He built a restaurant, gas station and a towing business at the intersection of highways 34 and 417. With no other businesses nearby, he immediately started to capture the business of travellers and truckers who were thrilled to have access to fuel and food on their long journey on the Trans-Canada Highway. It was a pivotal position to locate a service business like this, very shrewdly conceived and executed… much before its time. What insight this man had!

Now he had a business for the next generation of the “Vink family”. His five children all worked to contribute to the building of these businesses and the success of every division they developed.

In 1989, Herb Sr. passed away suddenly.

He was only 55 years young.

His death left Imelda in full control of this growing empire and a home full of young children. They all stood together as the family took over the direction of the company, running this 24 hour a day / 7 days a week operation.

Without notice, tragedy once again struck this family when the youngest son Patrick accidentally drowned at the young age of 26 in 1995.

In 1998, the time had come for the family to take full control. Herb Jr. became President, sister Joanne became Vice-President and sister-in-law Nathalie became secretary when the group purchased Herb’s Truck Stop from Imelda allowing her to retire. The buildings and businesses were expanded and the addition of the 417 Truck Center brought a complete maintenance service business for trucks, trailers and buses completing the vision. Sister Danielle opened a hair salon inside the truck stop and laundry and shower facilities were added for the truckers. Diesel and gas service for commercial trucks put the finishing touch on the long term project.

Herb’s Travel Plaza was complete!

For now.


Herb Vink JR
President

Growing up in a large family with Herb Sr. as a father and mentor caused Herb Jr. to develop the entrepreneurial spirit that drives him to succeed. Playing alongside the shadows of huge tow trucks that his father built, shaped his inner drive to be “the best towing company in Eastern Ontario”.

Herb Jr. developed the signature “yellow” color theme that would become a beacon of recognition for the Herb’s Towing and Recovery fleet that he continued to develop.

He began the fleet expansion with an “NRC” sliding boom recovery truck and over the next few years his fleet continued to grow as he acquired specialized equipment and soon Herb’s Towing and Recovery became the proud owner of a 50-65 ton Rotator.

That catapulted his fleet 10 years ahead of the competition.

Another recent addition was the 80-ton Rotator which placed Herb’s Towing and Recovery in the enviable position of owning the largest Rotator in Canada.

For our clients, that translates into giving them the huge advantage of access to two huge rotator trucks at their service.

He soon saturated the region around Vankleek Hill, ON and he set his sights on “North America’s busiest highway - Highway 401”.

Cornwall was the perfect area to locate a second towing operation. Now both “major corridors” were covered by this ever expanding fleet of towing giants.

His son, Andrew, was now ready to join the work force and opted for a career in paramedical services which he pursued for a year until he realized his heart was really set on the towing industry. He turned his career path to towing and learned quickly at his father's side.


Andrew Vink
General Operation Manager- Tow Division

From a young age, Andrew showed the passion and natural talent to become a towing operator. With his father as his mentor and in the shadows of the towing vehicles, he honed his trade on work sites and accident scenes.

Andrew soon excelled with his natural ability and instincts for the job and this was demonstrated as he was voted “Student of the class” in his WreckMaster™ training course in Ottawa. His people skills have also helped him in his entrepreneurial growth and he has since put together a solid operation in Cornwall, managing a staff of 12.

Andrew is also certified as a medical first responder.