Almost impossible
(Guy Quenneville/CBC) Trucks could come back There were 40 trucks parked on Kent Street from Cooper to Wellington on Friday, according to CBC's own count. It also takes time to tow the trucks to wherever they're being relocated to, and if the City of Ottawa did attempt it, they'd need to find a sizable space to put them. One previous job that involved towing more than 30 trucks and 28 cars in difficult positions took his company over 18 hours, he said. "If you're in a tight parking lot, or you're hooking up on a 45-degree angle, obviously things are going to change a little bit and it's going to be a little bit harder," Whan said.
#Almost impossible driver#
With hundreds of trucks parked downtown, removing them all - if it could be done - would still take multiple days of round-the-clock effort.Įven in a best-case scenario with driver co-operation, it would take at least 10 hours to tow just the 40 trucks on Kent Street, Whan said.īut there's also the fact trucks are not often stopped in the ideal positions to tow, meaning workers have to spend extra time winching them. WATCH | Ottawa seeks more police amid state of emergency:ĭuration 4:52 Ottawa police are stepping up pressure on convoy protesters, seizing fuel and making arrests, says Mayor Jim Watson, but the city has also requested more police from the OPP and the RCMP. "Every person that would send a truck in there is putting their driver at risk for being injured … You start removing those vehicles, you're going to have some pretty angry people." "I honestly can't see it being done,'' he said. Hooking up the truck also puts the employee in a vulnerable position, as they need to go under the truck, he added.
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Hooking up a commercial truck to a heavy-duty tower - sometimes called a "wrecker" - takes at least 30 minutes, Whan said. Heavy towing is a much more complicated process than towing a regular car or pickup, said Randy Whan, who owns Ward's Towing in Kingston, Ont. "It would be really detrimental to our business to get involved with something like that." 'Virtually impossible' without driver co-operation "It's the trucking industry you have to service on a regular basis," Allen said. The backlash against tow trucks brought in to help clear the blockade at the border in Coutts, Alta., has dissuaded many towing companies from taking work in Ottawa, he noted. WATCH | Ottawa declares state of emergency, police remove fuel from protest camp:ĭuration 0:49 David Allen, president of Gary's Towing, says the political backlash and subsequent financial hit wouldn’t be worth taking the job of removing the trucks currently sitting in Ottawa’s downtown core. On Sunday, the city declared a state of emergency, which among other things will make procurement more flexible, according to city solicitor David White.
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The city would not confirm or deny this, saying only that its bylaw department "uses several contracted services to assist with towing vehicles throughout the city." And no wrecker worth his salt is going to come anywhere near this, because they're on our side." City struggling to find willing towing companies: sourcesĬBC spoke to multiple towing companies across Ontario and while many weren't willing to be interviewed, several sources told CBC that the companies contracted by the City of Ottawa were refusing to tow trucks involved with the demonstration. "Nothing can move it, except maybe a big wrecker. "If you know anything about truck air brakes, once you pull that button, all 18 wheels are locked," Crowe told CBC on Wednesday. Trucker Lloyd Crowe from Picton, Ont., has been parked just a couple of blocks away from Parliament Hill since last weekend, but he's not worried about being towed. Then on Saturday, Ottawa police said 500 heavy trucks were in the so-called "red zone."
#Almost impossible drivers#
Heavy-duty towing experts say it will be difficult or impossible to remove the hundreds of heavy trucks entrenched in Ottawa's downtown - unless the drivers allow it.ĬBC counted 40 trucks on Kent Street and 109 on Wellington Street Friday, with dozens more on other streets spread around the downtown core.