An Ontario family is considering legal action after they say a large pothole totalled their vehicle.
Tracey Billing said her daughter Mikayla was behind the wheel when the crash happened in Guelph, Ont. The impact of the crash caused the airbags to deploy and “completely damaged” the car.
“I heard this huge bang and it felt like the car literally broke,” Mikayla told CTV Kitchener. “I was crying because I was really scared.”
The pair was driving slowly over a train track when the car hit the pothole.
“It is a complete write off. I’m not letting this slide, I am going to be pursuing legal action,” Billing said.
Workers with the city and Canadian National Railway were on site Friday to patch up the hole. A more permanent repair is planned for next week.
"Generally, potholes are repaired by the local road authority with the assistance of CN (safety and design),” Alexandre Boulé, a senior advisor in media relations for CN Rail, told CTV Kitchener in a statement. “In this case, CN proactively repaired the pothole to avoid further incidents for the time being,"
Meanwhile, young driver Mikayla has found the experience traumatizing.
“It definitely makes me scared to go over railway tracks again,” she said.
The Billings are now driving a rental while their insurance company handles their claim.
--- With files from CTV Guelph’s Heather Senoran
