Protesting tow truck drivers descend on Queen’s Park

Hundreds of tow truck drivers are circling Queen’s Park on Tuesday in protest of the province’s new auto insurance law.

The protest was to start during the morning rush hour, but ironically, heavy traffic held the drivers up from arriving at the legislature earlier.

An estimated 1,500 tow truck drivers were expected to descend on Queen’s Park.

The drivers made their way to the legislature from three different locations on the 400-series highways — Steeles Avenue and Highway 404, Bovaird Drive and Highway 410 in Brampton, and Mavis Road and Highway 401 in Mississauga.

Some drivers also travelled on the Gardiner Expressway, via Richmond and Yonge streets, and then headed along University Avenue the legislature.

The province says the new auto insurance legislation will regulate the tow truck industry and reduce auto insurance rates.

But tow truck drivers say it hampers their ability to do their job and may ultimately raise prices.

“We have family, we have kids. We’re just trying to do our job and everybody is giving us a hard time — the city,” one tow truck driver said.

Under the new act, drivers would be under the authority of the Commercial Vehicle Operator’s Registration (CVOR), which would limit their workdays to 13 hour days and a maximum of 60 hours a week.

Drivers say this this will limit their ability serve customers and create longer response times, especially during the winter when one tow can take four hours.

“With this new Bill 15 coming in, they’re really putting a lot of restrictions on they way that we can operate our business with CVOR — that’s going to restrict the amount of hours that we can work,” another tow truck driver named Dan said.

“If anybody thinks that there’s traffic problems now because of this, wait until we can only work 13 hours a day during a snow storm. Obviously, in every industry there’s some bad apples, but the whole industy isn’t bad apples and you can’t regulate the whole industry.”

According to the province, the new bill benefits consumers.

They say it will reduce auto insurance premiums by about 15 per cent by August 2015, allow customers to pay tow truck drivers by credit card, and provide itemized billing.

But tow truck drivers are enraged, saying it will actually raise prices putting more restrictions on drivers.

A similar protest in Brampton on Monday caused widespread delays, and police warned drivers to avoid the downtown area at the time.

 

Companies fear they will have to raise prices if profit margins sink and won’t be able to offer discounts to customers.

The bill passed the legislature on Nov. 20 and has received royal assent.

With files from Carl Hanstke and Momin Qureshi

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today