B.C. truck drivers struggle to find open restaurants due to COVID-19 pandemic

The president of the BC Trucking Association says it’s getting increasingly hard for truck drivers to find an open restaurant in the province.

Dave Earle says because of COVID-19, restaurants across British Columbia have been shutting down, or not letting customers inside.

He says drivers rely on those businesses for basic needs, such as going to the washroom, washing their hands or having a meal.

“These drivers are sometimes driving through entire towns that are shut because of COVID-19,” he said. “It’s difficult and it’s getting harder.”

That, he said, is especially the case when the restaurants are among the only ones in the province that semi-truck drivers can use.

“I mean, these guys can’t just swing into a parking lot and hop out and get a meal,” he said.

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“The trucks are very, very large and the facilities just don’t exist to serve them very well.”

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However, he says some restaurants in the province have stepped up.

“McDonald’s of Canada was first out of the gate recognizing this issue,” Earle said. “They’ve actually established a protocol for drivers to use their app to be able to order to-go meals and be served them at the drive-thru window as a walk-up.

“One of the McDonald’s in the Kamloops area has actually opened their dining room only to commercial truckers, and it’s not to eat, it’s to go in, use the washroom and to take your to-go order.”

He says the trucking association is also working with the food truck industry to get food trucks in spots where there isn’t any other option to eat.