TORONTO, Ont. — The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has been setting its sights on small trucks in an enforcement blitz in the GTA.

Yesterday, Transport Minister Donna Cansfield joined enforcement officers on the front lines to drive the point home.

“If you have a clunker on the road, we are going to find you, fine you and take you off the road,” Cansfield told local media yesterday. “Our large trucking associations are doing a very good job on maintenance on their large vehicles. The smaller vehicles are the ones we need to do the blitzes on because we are finding they have challenges around maintenance.”

Also on-hand was Brian Patterson, president and general manager of Ontario Safety League. He said one truck pulled over was a refuse truck hauling a container with an insecure load.

“It had a significant number of recycled clothing ready to blow out at any time,” Patterson said. “There has been no indication whatsoever of any maintenance done on the vehicle. And the licence plate was completely obstructed. If anything, that driver was waving a red flag at the enforcement community saying, ‘Pull me over.'”

– with files from the Toronto Sun