A Thorold father of three feels lucky that no one got hurt when a city snow truck knocked over a light post outside his house on Monday afternoon.
Adam Bentivoglio and his five-year-old son were out shovelling the driveway outside their home when a city snow truck accidentally hit the pole, sending it falling on top of the family’s Chevy Cruise, knocking it over.
“It cracked at the base and the concrete shattered because it was so cold,” Adam told ThoroldToday.
“It fell right on top of my car and blocked the whole driveway.”
The following hours were a headache, as they had to wait for police to come in order to get an incident number, and the plow truck itself had to be dug out after it too got stuck in the snowbanks.
Adam said the lamp pole was left at the scene until around 10 a.m on Tuesday morning, when crews showed up to begin working on removing the heavy metal pole from the roof of the car, that got crushed under the weight.
"I tried calling the city, bylaw and all kinds of numbers, but they were all closed due to inclement weather. It was frustrating."
On top of the ordeal of now having to pay a $500 deductible and dealing with insurance, Adam said the storm had also cost his wife, a hospital worker, more than a day's work while being laid off from his job at the casino himself.
"On Monday morning I got up at 4 in the morning to start shovelling, but when I realized how bad it was going to be, I told my wife there was just no way she could get into work. She managed to get in this morning, but was an hour late."
Adam said he was shook and his son got scared, but that the immediate thought was gratitude that no one got hurt.
"It really puts into perspective how fast things can happen. It sucks that the car got destroyed, but at the end of the day it's all replaceable."
City hall and services were closed on Monday.
The city has not announced how its services are functioning on Tuesday.
