“Nobody can tell us the scoring criteria, why companies with stellar safety records and new fleets are not being granted licenses,” said Sucha Seikhon, owner of Goodrich Transport in Surrey. “The greatest shock is that companies that don’t have records even close to ours are being given licenses and are now moving to 24 hour shifts to keep up with demand, which is not good for the wear and tear and safety of the trucks. ”
SURREY — A federal court judge has cleared the way for barred Port Vancouver Truckers, including hundreds of Indo-Canadians, to have their dispute heard, which the truckers are celebrating as a small.
In what is believed to be unprecedented for the trucking industry, 26 companies representing over 500 experienced container truckers will receive a judicial review of Port Metro Vancouver’s decision to overhaul the Transport License System (TLS), reported the Now newspaper.
Up to 80 companies, most of them operating in Surrey, were barred from the TLS system on Feb. 1 due to an ongoing overhaul of the trucking industry. An estimated $60 million of trucking equipment is now sitting idle and the drivers left scrambling to make ends meet.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Michelle Mann, a dispatcher for Surrey’s Safe Way Trucking. “My company has some of the most experienced drivers with extremely strong safety records and some of the newest trucks on the road, and we were turned down for a license despite our company having over 20 years of experience at the Port.”
Mann said the new TLS was developed without transparency, accountability or consistency, nor were the companies provided with reasons for their suspension.
“Nobody can tell us the scoring criteria, why companies with stellar safety records and new fleets are not being granted licenses,” said Sucha Seikhon, owner of Goodrich Transport in Surrey. “The greatest shock is that companies that don’t have records even close to ours are being given licenses and are now moving to 24 hour shifts to keep up with demand, which is not good for the wear and tear and safety of the trucks. ”
The suspension impacts more than just drivers, leaving mechanics, dispatchers and admin staff out of work and companies forced to shut their doors and tell their clients to find somebody else.
Gurpreet Badh, a Surrey lawyer representing two of the 26 companies, will be in federal court in Vancouver on Wednesday and Thursday (Feb. 25 and 26) to make interim motions providing relief to the trucking companies.
Badh said lawyers will focus on two core arguments; first, that the companies be allowed to have their licenses extended during the judicial review process, and second, to expedite that process to minimize the financial pain to those companies.
“They’re struggling,” said Badh of the companies. “I think they can’t survive for too long if a decision is not made.”
During the judicial review lawyers are expected to argue there was a lack of procedural fairness in revamping the TLS and they will ask the court to permanently reinstate the suspended companies.
Courtesy Now Newspaper
