Driver says Alberta sheriff left her stranded on highway due to expired licence, registration

Mary Edwards was driving to Lake Louise last month when an Alberta sheriff pulled her over on Highway 1 west of Banff because her vehicle's licence plate and her driver's licence were expired.

She was told she could not continue to drive until the corresponding fees were paid at a registry.

The 49-year-old says feelings of guilt and embarrassment soon turned to worry after the sheriff told her he was under no obligation to help her and she'd have to sort out her own problem.

"He said there's a registry in Banff, and there are taxi companies," said Edwards. "It was very, very stressful."

Edwards says she takes full responsibility for letting her licence and registration lapse. 

Her plate was up for renewal last August, her driver's licence in January. She says there was no excuse. She simply forgot. 

And she says she accepts the penalties: two tickets, each worth $324.

But she says she was taken back by the attitude of the peace officer issuing the tickets.

Other than parking her car at a trailhead lot a few hundred metres up the highway, he told her she couldn't drive anymore — otherwise, she risked getting another ticket, and she says he told her they were watching. 

She says the area had spotty cell service. She was alone. And she was under some time constraints.

The Banff registry closes at 2 p.m. on Saturdays, so she had about two hours to get there.

"You're kind of in a really terrible predicament of your own making, but it's still a terrible predicament to leave someone in," said Edwards.

She says she appealed to some strangers in the parking lot without any luck.

She then made several unsuccessful phone calls for rides, including one to a Banff cab company who said they were busy and couldn't get her to the registry in time.