After a fender-bender earlier than Christmas, 85-year-old Ossie Gildart was advised he’d must take a driver’s check. However a shock was ready for him when he walked into Service New Brunswick in Bathurst.
“He said, ‘Mr. Gildart, I’m sorry you can’t take the test, your licence has been suspended.’”
Gildart was advised his licence was suspended till he pays $4,661.91 due to an uninsured accident — an accident that occurred in Toronto in 1960.
“I just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t remember having an accident that I wasn’t insured with,” he mentioned.
Ontario’s Motor Automobile Accident Claims Fund permits folks to reclaim damages from an accident with an uninsured driver. However Gildart doesn’t recall stepping into an accident throughout his time in Toronto, not to mention one the place he was uninsured.
Whereas residing in Ontario, Gildart labored as a service technician so was required to have insurance coverage and to resume his driver’s licence yearly. When he left Ontario in 1971 to maneuver dwelling to New Brunswick, he obtained his Class 1 licence, driving vans for CN Rail.
Ossie Gildart lately found that he owes greater than $4,600 for a declare from an accident that occurred two provinces away and 65 years in the past.
And within the all of the years he’s renewed his licence, in Ontario and New Brunswick, this previous accident by no means appeared as a difficulty.
A spokesperson for New Brunswick’s Division of Public Security advised CBC Information that Service New Brunswick performs a Canada-wide scan for licence suspensions in different jurisdictions.
“However, if our investigation proves the reason for suspension is a court-ordered [judgment] more than 10 years old, we have no obligation to another province to suspend or collect the outstanding amount,” Geoffery Downey mentioned in an e-mail.
Gildart’s licence has now been reinstated and his driver’s check rebooked however he’s nonetheless left with the hefty invoice from the Ontario Ministry of Transport, though he’s being allowed to pay it again month-to-month.
“Two hundred dollars a month is a big slap in the face,” he mentioned.
“I’ll have to do without something to get that.”
The Ontario Ministry of Public Enterprise and Service Supply mentioned there are alternatives for individuals who are going through claims via this system.
“If an individual is sued and disagrees, they may defend the action that has been commenced against them,” spokesperson Jeffery Stinson mentioned in an e-mail.
“If a judgment has been issued, they may seek legal advice to move to have the judgment set aside.”
Gildart’s household remains to be deciding on subsequent steps, which can embody hiring a lawyer to assist them struggle the cost.
“I was never notified by anybody, for anything. I was never suspended. I never had a problem,” he mentioned.
“I just can’t believe they’d do this to a senior that’s 86 years old next week.”
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