A Surrey transport company hauling logs for Meadow Creek Cedar has had four trucks taken off the road for safety violations and faces a provincial audit.
The vehicles were stopped and towed during a joint roadblock by Kaslo RCMP and the Ministry of Transportation’s commercial vehicle safety and enforcement branch on Highway 31 last November.
“The violations pertained to the braking systems, adjustment of brakes, and also to lights, suspension, tires, load security, and coupling devices,” ministry spokesman Jeff Knight says.
“Those four vehicles are still off the road. They haven’t been repaired, and they’re not allowed to be back on the road until they are and are re-inspected.”
Knight says the trucks belonged to a Surrey transport company, which also has two other vehicles registered in its name.
Although the company had a “satisfactory” safety rating, it faces an audit this month.
“The ministry does audits as part of the routine in making sure carriers are safe,” Knight says.
“They go through everything, the safety of the fleet, the paperwork of the company, and make sure all the records are correct.”
Knight says it’s “unusual” to have so many trucks in the same fleet deemed unroadworthy.
He couldn’t name the company, but said it was not Grand Pacific Transport Inc. nor Quick Service Transportation Ltd., two Surrey companies that Meadow Creek Cedar owner Dale Kooner has been involved with.
In 2003, eight charges were laid against Kooner and the companies after an incident in which an employee was pinned between two trucks.
Kooner pled guilty to one count and was fined $7,500, while the charges against the companies were dropped.
Both companies had their licenses to operate in Ontario revoked due to poor safety records.
Kaslo RCMP Cpl. Chris Backus says the roadblock that led to the vehicles being towed resulted from a tip that some local logging trucks did not meet safety standards.
He also received complaints about working conditions at Meadow Creek Cedar in general, which he referred to WorkSafeBC.