A Richmond Canada Post employee is “fearing” for his and his colleagues’ lives after alleged near misses involving off-duty border guards speeding in a YVR parking lot at night.
Eddy Wong, who works at the Canada Post Pacific Processing Centre at YVR, said he and his colleagues working the graveyard shift have had many close calls with off-duty CBSA officers speeding out of a shared 20 km/hour parking lot.
“It’s dark out … and you can literally park your car at 11:40 p.m., watch (the officers) come out, and speed like maniacs in the parking lot and out on the public roads,” said Wong, highlighting a young male driving a BMW X5 was the “worst” case he encountered.
“We have honked at the speeders and have even nicely told them to stop driving so fast, but we just get shrugged off every time and it’s frustrating.”
He told the Richmond News that he started working at the facility in 2018 and noticed the incidents only occurred at night.
The speeding, Wong said, happened “once or twice a week,” but has since increased to every weeknight.
“We’ve brought up our concerns to our supervisors during our safety meetings before our shifts, but they respond by saying that they will pass the memo to the CBSA staff and that’s it,” said Wong.
Hayley Magermans, spokesperson at Canada Post, said reports on safe practices including parking lot safety are taken “seriously” and are followed up internally.
“The Pacific Processing Plant in Richmond has a joint health and safety committee that puts a tremendous amount of effort into safety at this facility, and this includes the parking lot,” said Magermans.
Canada Post, said Magermans, has installed speed radar signs at the parking lot entrance, expanded crosswalks and a one-gate exit from the parking lot to help reduce traffic in high-pedestrian areas.
And new speed bumps in the parking lot are being installed soon.
Meanwhile, CBSA is aware of the situation and the management team at the CBSA Vancouver International Mail Centre (VIMC) has “reminded” staff of parking lot speeding limits during shift briefings, according Judith Gadbois St-Cyr, spokesperson for CBSA.
“Should the CBSA receive further complaints of this behaviour going forward, they will be investigated and appropriate measures will be taken,” said Gadbois St-Cyr, adding that any employees who breach CBSA’s “strict code of ethics and behaviour” will be dealt with accordingly.
“All CBSA employees, whether on or off duty, are reminded to conduct themselves in a way that upholds the integrity of the CBSA and demonstrates professionalism in their day to day activities.”
Wong said he just wants to make sure “every loved one makes it home safely.”
“Our families and loved ones depend on us to (get) home safe, especially during these uncertain times and we want everyone to be safe, including these officers.”
