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Central Saanich farmer uses zamboni to clear snow

With a large snowfall, Marko Kardum thought he would help out the neighbours by clearing snow with his zamboni.
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Marko Kardum tried to help out the neighbours by clearing the road with his zamboni

Only in Canada would one see a generous farmer using his secondhand Zamboni to clear snow.

At around 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6 Central Saanich Police attended a home at Tanner Ridge Place and Central Saanich Road where a farmer in the area was using his secondhand Zamboni to clear snow.

“I think he had good intentions,” said Corporal Dan Cottingham with Central Saanich Police.

The Zamboni owner, Marko Kardum, said he was just trying to clean up the roads.

“There was an accident at the end of my road, so the traffic was blocked up and everything and then we got a good dump of snow later on in the evening and I just knew that no one was going to come around to clean it up,” he told the PNR.

Kardum said that area of road is usually the last that gets plowed, and that with Tanner Ridge, being on a bit of a hill, he thought he’d try out his Zamboni that he purchased a few months ago.

“It actually worked out really well surprisingly,” he said. “I wasn’t making any ice or anything, but I was just using the auger to lift the snow up.”

He said he was also trying to make sure his aunt, who lives up the road, was safe when she drove down the hill.

When police showed up he said he was surprised. He said he wasn’t out there very long and was surprised the police even came. Kardum said he’s known one of the officers, Cst. Paul Brailey, as he’s been on the force for a long time.

“I explained to him that we weren’t trying to make an ice rink, that we were just trying to clean the road, and he realized that we weren’t trying to cause any trouble or anything and made sure we got the machine home safely.”

Cottingham said because it’s considered a motor vehicle, the vehicle needs to be licensed to be on the road.