MILTON, Ont. – With reports of snow flying in from all parts of Canada, truckers may soon want to pay a little extra attention to the overnight weather – especially when they’re stopped – or it could land them in court.

Rick Basket, a trucker from southwestern Ontario, found out the hard way the Ontario Provincial Police were actively fining truckers last winter for snow blowing off the roofs of trailers. Last Dec. 7, Basket rolled into Canada from the U.S. and hooked up to a trailer in Milton bound for Montreal.

“It was sunny, but cold,” he remembers of the fateful morning. “They had gotten about two inches of snow the night before in Milton.”

Basket set out on Hwy. 401 and before he even made it into Toronto was pulled over and charged with careless driving due to blowing snow coming off the trailer. Although a trial found him guilty, Basket is still fighting the conviction.

“If it stands, I’d probably lose my job,” he says. “The charge itself is what bothers me most. Improper lane changes, speeding, following too closely; these things are careless driving.”