Wrecker service gives people a lift after a night out

CARIBOU – Residents of this northern Maine city can partake in holiday partying knowing they have friends that won’t let them drive after they have been drinking.

Local police support the project provided by Jeffrey and Wendy Beaulieu, owners of Beaulieu’s Garage and Body Shop, and their employee. They get people home from holiday parties from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day.

“We just don’t want to see anyone get hurt during the holidays,” Jeff Beaulieu said in a telephone conversation from his business Monday. “It doesn’t matter to us if it’s a private party at home, or partying at local clubs.

“If people call us, we will get them and their vehicle home,” he said. “It’s an annual thing we do to help out.”

“I think it’s great,” Sgt. Paul Vincent of the Caribou Police Department said Monday. “It helps to keep people who have been drinking off the road.

“People utilize the service, and that’s good,” said the 16-year veteran police officer. “He’s getting through to people.”

Beaulieu is the only wrecker service in Aroostook County offering the service, police said. To arrange for the service, all people have to do is call Beaulieu’s Garage at 492-2471. The only stipulation is that the vehicle owned by riders has to be in serviceable condition.

The service is open to anyone attending a party in Caribou and living in the general vicinity of New Sweden or Washburn, Beaulieu said.

The Beaulieus, actually Jeff’s father, started the project in 1989. Back then, the holiday service was provided as part of a national coalition of wrecker drivers. The coalition has since disbanded, but the Beaulieus have continued the program.

“We’ve been doing this for a number of years,” Jeff said. “We pick them up, and also take their car home.”

They’ve never kept track of the number of people using the service. The number rises and falls, depending on the weather, he explained.

“For some reason, the numbers go up when the weather is warmer,” he said.

Bill Scoffield, who works at Beaulieu’s Garage, helps provide the service. Two units are available to assist people. People getting a lift home ride with the driver. Their vehicle is loaded onto the bed of the wrecker, and dropped off in the owner’s driveway.

The body shop was started by Jeff’s grandfather in 1941 and is now operated by Jeff and Wendy, and Jeff’s mother and sister. The family business is at 246 Sweden St.