A truck driver’s embarrassment may have been enough of a punishment, say police, after he inadvertently left his rig in neutral only to have to chase it across a parking lot and through a fence.

“The combination of embarrassment and damage and being the goat of probably a lot of radio chatter has more of a deterrent effect than anything that could be applied,” said Staff Sgt. Grant Learned, adding he wasn’t sure if charges would be recommended.

At around 8:55 p.m. Friday, a witness called RCMP to report that a truck pulling a trailer had crashed through a fence at the truck stop at 1885 West Trans Canada Highway.

Both the truck and trailer are registered to a Kamloops based company, police determined.

The driver, a 55-year-old Maple Ridge man, had stepped out and left the truck in neutral with the brake disengaged when it started rolling.

The driver noticed and tried to chase it down but the truck got away from him, side swiped another rig and rolled across the parking lot.

The driver of the side-swiped trailer from Lethbridge, Alta., was sleeping in the back when he woke up to the collision. He peered out the window to see a heavyset man hot-footing it behind a rolling tractor trailer.

Damage to his unit was minor, said police.

The runaway rig kept rolling until it tore through a fence and came to a rest down an embankment at the west end of the lot.

There were no reported injuries.