- Hub staff

A backhoe  being used on private parking lot properties on Sauble Beach has sent a man to hospital.

A local citizen stood in front of one of the diggers this morning. Witnesses say while people were screaming at the driver to stop, it hit the man.  EMS attended, and the man was taken to hospital. According to witnesses, he was clearly badly shaken.

Work on the beach continued after the man was removed; the same driver at the controls. Witnesses say there were/are no markers to indicate there was work being done nor that it is private property or "no trespassing".   Grey Sauble Conservation Authority is investigating the work that was done within the area regulated under Ontario Regulation 151/06: Regulation of Development, Interference with Wetlands and Alterations to Shorelines and Watercourses.

The beach property is part of the current land claim between the Town of South Bruce Peninsula and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation and the federal government.  The case went to trial last November and closing arguments were heard in May.