Loblaws is apologizing to Campbell River residents after a semi-trailer containing a load of groceries destined for the Real Canadian Superstore flipped on Highway 19 last Friday.
Nobody was injured in the crash, but traffic was disrupted on the highway for 15 hours.
“We apologize to the residents of Campbell River for the inconvenience this caused,” said Karen Gumbs, director of public relations for Loblaw Companies Limited.
Gumbs confirmed in a Feb. 4 email that the driver of a Loblaw trailer lost control on Friday morning, “causing the trailer to flip on its side and block the Inland Island Highway.”
She said the company is “currently inspecting the contents of the trailer and based on our food safety protocols we will determine if the food is suitable for sale, donation or disposal.”
The Superstore chain is a division of Loblaw Companies Ltd., a Canadian retail giant
that also includes Shoppers Drug Mart, along with brands such as President’s Choice, No Name and Life, according to the company’s website.
The incident, which took place just north of the Jubilee Expressway, caused northbound traffic to be detoured along Highway 19A and Dogwood Street via Jubilee.
Southbound traffic was later reduced to a single lane as workers transferred the shipment of groceries into waiting trailers.
READ MORE: Southbound bridge across Campbell River now seismically sound, says province
It appears that the truck’s driver “left the road, … went into the median there, tried to correct and he flopped it right over in the median and the fast lane,” said Damian Girard, road manager for Main Road North Island.
The driver managed to exit the cab through the windshield, which had been smashed by the driver or possibly a firefighter, he said.
The driver was unharmed, and no other vehicles were involved, Girard said. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
Girard said he was alerted to the incident at around 2:30 a.m. Workers from Main Road had a detour in place by about 3 a.m., but traffic on the highway was disrupted for about 15 hours, he said.
“We did everything we could to get the highway open as soon as possible,” he said.
READ MORE: Speed limit hikes caused more fatalities on B.C. highways – study
A crew from Coastline Towing and Transport spent about eight hours emptying the trailer and transferring the goods, said Nelson Christensen, operations manager for the Campbell River-based company.
The flipped semi-trailer contained a “full load of groceries that was destined for the Superstore,” he said.
“Everything had to be hand-bombed out, pretty much one package at a time, and then what we did is we stacked it all on pallets, shrink-wrapped them all, loaded them back into our trailers, and they were shipped back to the Lower Mainland to the supplier.”
Asked if it was a messy job, he said most of the groceries were in pretty good shape.
“Probably 90 per cent of it was salvaged without any loss,” Chistensen said. “There was probably a pallet of lost products, and that was it, out of the whole truck.”
READ MORE: Southbound bridge across Campbell River now seismically sound, says province
After the goods had been transferred, the company righted the truck and trailer, and then towed them both away, Chistensen said.
@davidgordonkoch
david.koch@campbellrivermirror.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter