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If the bolt has 8.8 on the head, this is a high tensile bolt, so... something has gone wrong somewhere, I wound think the tow bar fixing hole will be well worn,If the bolt is bent i dont think it has been over tightend.Just may be the wrong length of bolt has been fitted, sounds like it has been torque up but the shank of the bolt was to long. Can you see if there are washers fitted on the other bolts?

As you can see this bolt has a very long shank,(not the thread) which in this case no good for the job.

I agree with Bill Terry.  They must be high tensile bolts.  Also, if the bolts have been over-torqued (or bent?) then an inspection for possible thread damage to the fixing points is very advisable.  Unless the towbar design requires bolts with a plain shank, high tensile set screws should have been used, along with washers under the heads.

If there is a protruding plain shank, why is this?  I can imagine a box-section towbar, in which case spacer-tubes should be fitted internally in the box section to allow torquing-up without collapsing the box-section.  If there are spacer tubes between the towbar and the fixing points, this suggests to me that the wrong towbar has been fitted.

Bertie.