Truck seized for non-payment of court-ordered child support.

CALGARY [February 25, 2000] -Following a routine driver/vehicle inspection, the driver of a New Brunswick-based tractor-trailer was charged with driving a commercial vehicle while his licence was under suspension. As a result, the vehicle driven by the suspended driver was seized by Alberta Infrastructure at a scale facility south of Calgary.

Greg Hook, an official with Alberta Infrastructure, said that province’s statutes allow for the seizure of a motor vehicle, driven by an operator with a suspended license, for a period of up to 30 days. If the suspended driver is not the registered owner of the vehicle, the owner can file a motion to have the vehicle released. But the carrier was first required to prove that it had taken reasonable precautions, in this case, frequent driver abstract examinations, to insure that the driver was not under suspension.

“We’re under no obligation to allow the owner of the vehicle to reclaim it before the 30-day term is up,” Hook said . “But we’re sensitive to the carriers needs and if he can satisfy us that he’s been diligent in his operation, in most cases we’d permit the registered owner to recover the vehicle.”

A spokesman for the carrier said the driver’s licence had been suspended as a result of unpaid court-ordered child support in the province of Ontario. Ontario had issued the suspension under its Highway Traffic Act, and in accordance with a reciprocal agreement between all Canadian provinces allowing for interjurisdictional licence suspension if child support payments aren’t maintained.

The driver, licenced in Manitoba, claims he hadn’t been notified of the suspension. The carrier had performed a drivers abstract check within the past 30 days, which did not reveal the suspension. Had the driver been an owner operator, and the registered owner of the vehicle, the vehicle might not have been returned to the carrier.

Hook said he was unable to comment specifically on this particular case, as it was a motion in progress. He also said that he didn’t care to speculate on whether or not the law would have allowed the trailer and cargo to be returned to the carrier in the event of a similar incident involving an owner operator.

The carrier got the truck back the following day, and the second driver of the team was allowed to resume the trip on his own. However, the carrier first had to pay a $100 ex-parti filing fee, as well as a towing bill incurred in having the truck towed from the scale to an impound facility in Calgary.