Vancouver Island tow truck driver injured, several vehicles damaged as pothole repairs drag on

A tow truck operator is at home recovering from his injuries after his truck was sideswiped at a chaotic scene in Nanoose Bay, B.C., on Tuesday evening.

Several tow trucks were operating in a circuit assisting dozens of vehicles that had become damaged after hitting two potholes along Highway 19 between and Lantzville Road and Northwest Bay Road.

Manager Mike Oldfield of Mid Island Towing confirmed his driver had been injured and was home resting after being released from hospital earlier in the evening.

Oldfield says he can’t comment further on the incident involving one of his vehicles because a criminal investigation has been launched.

He says a lot of motorists were assisted throughout the evening but it was impossible to know at this point how many flats were repaired or how many vehicles were towed.

The area was due for patching later Tuesday evening and Daniel Hutchins, general manager for construction company Mainroad Group's Mid-Island region, says signs were placed to warn motorists about the potential danger.

A large sign warning motorists about potholes in the slow lane for 10 kilometres was situated near the Snaw'Naw'as Shell station at the front end of the problem area.

“We’ve tried to sign all the potholes when they appear but we’re patching some of these areas two, three times a day until we can get permanent repairs in there so please be cautious,” he told CTV News on Tuesday morning.

Nanoose Bay Towing owner Russ Dutton says many of the people involved in the pothole incident were probably innocent drivers but others were simply travelling too fast.

Dutton says he was receiving calls from many drivers crying and terrified to get out of their disabled vehicles.

“There’s people blowing through there at 110 km/h, as soon as they see an opening they’ve got it right to the floor and they’re gone and boom, they hit the holes,” he says.

Dutton says he was knocked out while working on a tow job previously and was "left for dead" after the driver left the scene. He would like to see $2,000 fines and automatic impoundment for drivers who don’t obey the "slow down and move over" laws.

“Somebody’s loved one could be just opening their door at that time, like the driver of that tow truck," he says. "He’s got a family, he deserves to go home at the end of the day but last night he went home in a cast. Luckily he went home in a cast. Luckily,” Dutton says.