A BC dump truck driver is facing fines, a license suspension and lost his job after crashing while being allegedly drunk on the job.
The BC Highway Patrol was called to the scene of a crash around 2:30 pm on Sept. 4 after witnesses reported a dump truck crashed on Lougheed Highway near DeRoche, which is just east of Mission.
When officers arrived they found the dump truck had rolled into a ditch.
The officers demanded a breath sample from the driver and the reading was a fail, a news release said.
The 44-year-old Abbotsford man was not injured in the crash but is facing a slew of consequences.
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That includes a $368 ticket for driving without due care and attention and a $240 fine for having open liquor in the truck.
He was handed a 90-day immediate roadside driving ban, had his licence seized and the truck, which was owned by his employer, was impounded for 30 days.
While police were investigating, the dump truck driver’s supervisor showed up and reportedly fired him on the spot.
“The majority of professional truck drivers never deal with the BC Highway Patrol. They’re too busy working safely and following the rules,” says Cpl. Michael McLaughlin.
“But with any big rig, the stakes are too high to be unsafe. We have no tolerance for drivers who are impaired.”
This the third case involving an impaired dump truck driver highlighted by the BC RCMP in less than five months.
In May, the RCMP caught an impaired dump truck driver while conducting commercial vehicle checks in Burnaby.
Then in July, a second driver from the same company failed a sobriety test just a couple hundred metres away from where the first vehicle was stopped.
