By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

HOURS after Abaco firefighters claimed police threatened to “book them” if they failed to get a commercial driver’s licence, the Ministry of Transport said fees for that licence are waived for emergency first responders.

Danny Sawyer, the fire chief for Central Abaco, claimed police told firefighters they could not drive or operate a truck without the licence, leaving residents to conclude firefighters would not respond to an emergency.

“They recommended that we go to Road Traffic,” Mr Sawyer told The Tribune yesterday. “I didn’t go to Road Traffic, but my assistant chief went to Road Traffic and spoke with them, and we were told the same information.”

However, Chief Superintendent David Lockhart of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Traffic Division denied that police grounded Abaco firetrucks, saying firefighters “voluntarily did what they did after they heard the announcement”.

Under the Road Traffic Act, a commercial driver’s license is required to operate heavy-duty vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, heavy equipment and placarded hazardous.

“The process is that you have to attend an in-class training for four hours and then a practical training for two hours, and if you succeed, you’re given a certificate,” CSP Lockhart said. “Once you’re given the certificate, then you have to go to Road Traffic and apply for your commercial license, which you could get for one year or, I think three years.”

Failure to get a license could result in a $250 fine for first-time offenders. Re-offenders could be fined $500 or face six months in prison.

Mr Sawyer said there are about ten fire trucks in Abaco and nearly 70 volunteer firefighters.

He claimed authorities told firefighters last year not to seek the licence because they were first responders.

“We can’t keep going back and forth like this,” he said. “We need something from government stating, you know, we’re going to sit the exam or they’re going to waive us.”

Roscoe Thompson, head of the Marsh Harbour/Spring City Township, said he spoke to Central and South Abaco MP John Pinder, who assured him that the rules “did not include the volunteer firefighters”.

He also called the fees an added burden on struggling Bahamians.

“They said no more new taxes, but now they’re gonna force Bahamians to now have to go and get a CDL license for driving a trailer with a boat on it,” he said. “That’s gonna really affect a lot of people through the archipelago of The Bahamas.”

In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Transport pledged to hold public engagement exercises with the Royal Bahamas Police Force to help people understand the requirements.