The FRO Solution Blog

Just back from Xmas vacation down I-75 to Florida and can't help but notice all those Ontario truckers working non-stop !! back at the office the phone keeps ringing with FRO problems - a trucker who was paying regularly and had reduced his arrears from 15k to $1,500 got a " First Notice of Intention to Suspend Driver's Licence" in Sept/06. The Notice gives the payor 3 options to avoid the suspension by a specified date within 30 days. The Notice was received by ordinary mail and is a computer generated form. Option #1-pay all the arrears; Option # 2 - enter into a repayment plan acceptable to FRO. Detailed Financial Information is required and a proposal form is included. It is noted that if the payment plan is not agreed to within the required ( 30 day ) time period the licence will be suspended. Option #3 - go to Court and obtain a Refraining order preventing the FRO from suspending the licence ( this is not so simple-more in a later blog ) . This trucker sent in repayment plan form ( but none of the other financial documentation ) He made all of his payments as proposed and heard nothing back from the FRO, so he ASSUMED that the payment plan had been accepted. WRONG. On the Thursday before Xmas he received a letter from the MTO confirming that his licence was suspended. Never did get anything from the FRO. After numerous calls and being on hold with the FRO and paying off the balance by telebanking last week he still hasn't got his licence reinstated as of today. The convenient bureaucratic answer would probably be that the First Notice clearly states that unless the proposal is agreed to by FRO then the licence will be suspended. Since they never told him they agreed with the proposal then he shouldn't have assumed that the licence wouldn't be suspended. Right. He's making the payments and sent in the form. They are taking steps which could deprive someone of a livelihood &/or insurance coverage with untold consequences. Holding off the suspension pending receipt of additional documents would be reasonable. At least telling the payor that the proposal was unacceptable or deficient in some way would be reasonable. A counter-offer would be reasonable. But to go ahead and suspend without any reply at all is unconscionable. This trucker was probably driving without a licence for at least a week without knowing it ! All the while he had reasonablly thought that he had resolved the issue. ASSUME NOTHING !!