Edmonton cop hates welders

[Paul]

So my brother gets stopped on Yellowhead trail today, he runs a portable welder for me. He walked twice around the truck, asked from my brother docs, goes to his car, and comes back with 2 fines. One for not having GVW on the truck (fair enough it's registered for 4900 KG), another one for unsafe bottle storage, $690. My brother asks him what he's talking about, the bottles are secure and upright, no issue. The little asshole says that it's because they don't have the caps on the cylinders. My brother leaves his regulators on, but he always closes the bottles.

Now I have looked high and low into the TDG act specifically for welders in Alberta. There is absolutely no requirement to have the cylinders capped. Furthermore it refers to the Federal act section 5.4, again, absolutely no mention of having capped bottles.

The only regulation is that the bottles be secure and upright.

So it looks like some young Edmonton cop has a hate on for welders, maybe he caught his wife or girlfriend in bed with one, who knows. Looks like a day in court though.

[BruceW]

Good on you for taking it to court.  If more people did that crap like you described would stop.

Not sure what's gone wrong, I blame the lowering of entrance standards a few years ago, but it's a safe bet we all have similar stories.

It's got to be getting very frustrating to be a good officer, with all the little-man syndrome wannabe hitlers and 5' wide 4' tall man haters in uniform nowdays.

[nube]

Glad I went the other route and got the blue uniform with a helmet   I wouldn't want to be a cop.

[Paul]

I'm just annoyed, it's a bullshit ticket, there is no law that says you can't have regulators on your bottles on a welding rig. Is it good practice to cap bottles? Maybe. But no call for a $690 fine, if the guy had a personal issue with it all he had to do was ask my brother to cap his bottles. Guys an aresehole.

[badback]

I would fight it Paul...Take a TDG manual in with you because you are correct about the storage "secure and upright"...

[Paul]

The biggest pain in the ass is it was issued on a summons, that means mandatory appearance to set trial, then the trial. Say my brother had to fight it on his own, that's 2 days of lost time. This is the issue, these wet behind the ear young cops that think they know everything about the law. I called a detective buddy with the EPS and asked him about it and he said in 20 years he has never heard of such a summons being issued and said the same thing I did, "a welder must have banged his wife" lol.

Right from Alberta Transportation transporting welding gases.

All compressed gas cylinders are considered dangerous because they contain gas under pressure. The cylinder’s valve can easily be damaged by falling or striking another object; something that could create a rocket out of an ordinary cylinder. The TDG Regulations [Section 5.4] say only that the cylinders/containers shall be loaded safely and securely stowed during transport. There is no direction as to how it should be done. In addition, CSA Standard B340 [referred to in Section 5.10(1)(a)(i)] requires that any gas with a liquid phase (for example, propane which is liquefied, or acetylene, which is dissolved in acetone), must be transported upright so that the safety valves are in contact with the vapour space and not the liquid.

CSA B340 is mentioned, but it doesn't apply unless the standard is named as law, even then there is no mention of caps. It also mentions federal transport Canada 5.4, but the knucklehead referenced 5.1 on the ticket I think. The document is a directive and not an act. Either way no mention in section 5 about requiring caps, again, upright and secure.

[nube]

I would go to the court house and talk with the prosecuter there.  I have had buddies go down with phot radar tickets before and got them erased or lowered.  They might say this is B.S and throw it out beofre court.  Also I would go tot he cop shop and ask to talk to the cops Sergent.  His boss might say this is stupid and toss it and give the subordinate a beating!

[weeman]

The gestapo is worried cylinders on a welding unit???
This dumb ass has missed this by a mile. I would be more concerned about people who transport 20 lb bottle of propane inside of the vehicle. Propane regs are the most abused above all.  This issue needs to be brought to the attention of the shift staff sergeant.
 There seems to be an over site from this gestapo police. In the short term you can have somebody build a custom reg cover so it is at least out of sight.  A close friend of mine builds custom upholstery for welding trucks if you are interested.

[badback]

"a welder must have banged his wife"

Maybe more than one...lol....

[rightwing]

I think some of them don't like tradesman or oil patch guys period. A couple years ago the RCMP were stoping everyone on the Sierra rd in NE BC and giving tickets for everything they could think of. From not having the right paper work for your truck radio to having a thermos on the passenger seat not tied down. Hopefully he wins in court, most judges have more common sense then you would think.