A motor vehicle accident on Duncan Street resulted in a small bus causing damage to a building wall and two local businesses.
The accident occurred around 9:20 am on Friday, August 9, when the hospital auxiliary bus, occupied by a lone driver, left the bottle depot on Duncan Street and plowed through Thunder Bay Saw Shop and Relay Rentals.
Dylan Parsons, owner of Relay Rentals and a witness to the accident, said he was on the phone and heard a big bang.
“I looked over to my left and saw the hospital auxiliary van bouncing through the parking lot with our signpost on top of it,” said Parsons. “I, of course, came running out and went down to the vehicle. The lady [driver] was okay, thankfully. She just appeared to be distraught. Luckily, the van was just her in it and there wasn’t anybody else.”
Parsons said he assessed the damage to his business after checking out the van. He said the van took out two of his employees’ vehicles, plus the signpost.
“It was quite the commotion,” said Parsons. “It was quite the loud experience.”
Parsons said Thunder Bay Saw Shop lost some equipment and Adams Concrete had a hole in the side of its building.
Powell River RCMP, Powell Fire Rescue and the ambulance service were dispatched to the scene. The street was closed in both directions with westbound traffic being diverted at Ontario Avenue.
Powell River RCMP corporal Todd Woon said the bus was parked in the parking lot at the bottle depot on Duncan Street and went down from there, taking out quite a large dollar value in property from Thunder Bay Saw Shop, including a lawn tractor, a couple of tillers and a trailer, then went into the Relay Rentals parking lot, taking out a sign, as well as an employee’s truck, pushing it into another car. Then the bus continued through the parking lot across Quebec Street and hit the side of the storage building, he added.
The driver of the bus was transported to Powell River General Hospital by ambulance with minor, non-life-threatening injuries, said Woon.
The matter is still under investigation by Powell River RCMP. The driver of the bus has been spoken with and is cooperating with police in the investigation, said Woon, and the bus is going to undergo a mechanical examination.
As far as a dollar value, it is going to be quite extensive, said Woon.
“There is going to be a lot of money in damages,” he said.
