Delivery van gets stuck on Quebec ATV trail, destroys property, leaves family frustrated

A Quebec family is frustrated after a delivery driver followed the wrong GPS route down an ATV trail, got stuck and ruined their property.

The widespread use of online shopping has made delivery trucks ubiquitous everywhere in the country, but that reality is causing some headaches for one family in Quebec’s Laurentians, who had to deal with a driver deeply stuck where he shouldn’t be.

Ernie Chapman got an unexpected visitor in December at his cottage near Gore, Que., about 100 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

“I heard a vehicle’s engine revving quite a bit, so I pulled ahead on my chair and looked out my window, and I noticed there was a car on the other side of a lake that’s in front of the house,” he said.

An Intelcom delivery had ventured onto a tiny path too small for the vehicle.

“It’s only a trail for an ATV and it’s all grass and flowerbeds,” said Chapman. “He drove all the way up to about maybe 75 feet from the other house on the corner of the lake, and he was stuck there.”

The driver could not turn around to get out.

“I tried talking to them,” said Chapman. “I said, ‘Why do you drive over here? It’s not a road.’ He says, ‘I’m following my GPS.’ I said, ‘Well, it’s still not a road. Don’t you understand? This is not a road.’”

It took Chapman, neighbours and a tow truck two-and-a-half hours to get the cubevan out.

The driver was allegedly less than grateful about the ordeal.

“Once we got this driver out and he was back to the main road section, as we were just putting the chains back up in the truck and the tractor so we could bring them back up to our place, the guy was gone. He never said thank you to anybody or anything,” said Chapman.

The Chapmans took note of the damage before the snow covered it all up.

“Since my parents bought the property, they cleared out all the scrub brush, leveled out the ground, made it so that we could drive with at least our four wheeler and ATV on it, but all the grass is completely destroyed,” said Ernie’s daughter Tina Chapman. “There’s about a good 10 to 12 inch depth ruts on each side from the tires.”

Ernie Chapman said he tried to bill the driver through Intelcom for the extensive damage.

“I gave them pictures off my phone,” he said. “He had the police report number, everything, and it’s been over two months now. We haven’t received anything back from them.”

Intelcom told CTV News that they were aware of the incident but that they could not comment.

For the Chapmans, it was a costly delivery for a package that was never ordered in the first place.