Trucking companies sue to overturn suspension for repeatedly hitting B.C. overpasses
Chohan Freight Forwarders – the carrier that crashed six times in two years into British Columbia infrastructure – remains suspended, while the administrative process continues, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure told TruckNews.com.
The B.C. carrier and Alberta-based Chohan Group said the B.C. government wrongly concluded they were “one operation” after an overpass crash last December and want a court to let them both back on the province’s roads, The Canadian Press reported.
The companies said in B.C. Supreme Court petitions that they’re separate legal entities but have a family connection.
“In late December, the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE) suspended the safety certificate for Chohan Freight Forwarders after their sixth crash in the past two years,” the ministry said.
“The CVSE director has had communication with the company around next steps in the process. Further enforcement action is being considered.”
The ministry said it would not comment on the court proceedings.
Chohan Freight says it wants its safety certificate restored after a truck driven by an owner-operator hit an overpass on Highway 99 in Delta in December 2023, lodging construction girders into the structure.
Suspension costing $1M a week
The company says the suspension that took its fleet off B.C. roads is unreasonable, costing upwards of $1 million a week, and the independent contractor involved in the crash has admitted fault and been terminated.
Chohan Group meanwhile says the B.C. government wrongfully denied it oversized load permits after the December crash, and the firm has never been involved in a highway infrastructure crash “in Alberta, British Columbia or otherwise.”
The CVSE recently fined a trucking company $2,371 after one of its tractor-trailers hit the roof of the Massey Tunnel in the Greater Vancouver Area on Jan. 10.
There have been three incidents this January, adding up to a total of 34 times a commercial vehicle has caused an investigation for a bridge or overpass strike in the province since December 2021.
With files from The Canadian Press
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$1M a week ??? Unless $1M means a thousand, it seems pretty unlikely that a carrier with, according to SAFER, 15 power units, as of June 2023, is grossing 1 million dollars, let alone profiting that much, per week.
Now, I’m not calling anyone a liar, but … if it walks like a duck, and it talks like a duck … (y’all know the rest)
Seems like maybe someone took some literary license with that number.
6 times in 2 years is too many times. Something was seriously wrong there. Maybe giving each operator a dollar store tape measure would have helped?