[McTurbo]

first let me state i know i did wrong. in 2 areas i had 2 log violations and i didnt check the king pin.

January 23rd i was terminated for company policy violation. 2 parts to this and i dont know which one they are firing me for.

1st i didnt take a full 10 hours i slept from 7am - 2pm then had to get up early to get my load in. i didnt get pulled over or anything but my dispatcher had a fit that i didnt take a full break. this is the 3rd time ive done it. and the 2nd time she's said something to me that i dont need to be doing it.

When i was brought before saftey they wanted my logbook and everything only had those 2 false entries.


2nd. I made the biggest error of them all i got into a hurry and didnt check my kingpin. i dropped my trailer about 10 inches down onto its landing gear pulling out of the dock. no damage to the trailer, no damage to the truck, the parking lot was an icepack and in the turn to pull along side of the trailers i just pulled out of..it decoupled. once i felt the trailer let go. i hit my brakes and got pushed out from under the trailer. the trailer dropped and landed on the landing gear at 1 mile an hour. NO DAMAGE i was able to get it back up and onto the truck with about 10 minutes of cranking it in low gear (paper load). durring the seperation i cracked the service hose (it was -25 degrees) this was the only damage a 20.00 hose.

i reported it to my dispatcher. and had to go through 4 hours of saftey calls and other members of administration repeating what i just posted. in the 14 months ive been driving ive never had a ticket, nor any other incedents/accidents or anything on my DAC. the only thing ive been gotten onto about is occasionally they will give me a load and the times are impossible to meet due to shipper delays or traffic or any number of reasons. so i may cut my break short an hour or two and get it there on time. (i log it legal but i didnt drive it legal... i didnt do this alot but i have done it.. i dont know a driver who hasnt at some point)

they routed me back to atlanta (1000 miles) terminated me on the spot. the problem is the saftey meeting was vague. they got onto me about my log. and said they appreciate me accepting responsibility for not checking the kingpin. but due to company policy violation they are going to have to terminate my employment.

i took 2 weeks at home im now trying to find another job. unfortunatly everyone says We cant hire you cause you were terminated. they apparently dont care why i was terminated because every phone call ive made ends with, you gotta find another company to hire you for 6 months because you were terminated..... are there any suggestions on how i can go about getting another job.



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NOW for another explanation. my first day with the company i started out with them, had my inverter and laptop with me i had been using on the truck for almost a year before i started with this company (roehl) .. none of the bunk lights would come on when i got the truck. i reported it. was told the bulbs were just out that they didnt have any replacements on hand.

that night i picked up my load stopped for the night plugged my inverter and laptop in .. 45 minutes later my laptop power cord MELTED off my laptop actually melting the metal plug into the laptop. my laptop shut off and wouldnt come on.. (i was upset about this)..

the next morning i got on the phone with my DSR and almost immediatly she was saying it wasnt the truck before i even got the whole story out. so i asked to talk to the fleet manager. i told them theres a short in the truck and the bunk fuse is throwing sparks and cutting out when you plug it in.. theres a problem with the truck. he denied it and said the company wouldnt do anything for my laptop.

i wasnt happy so i went over HIS head and actually had an argument with the terminal manager about it. long story short i went all the way to the top to main home office to the company operations officer. they REPAIRED the truck while i was at the home office. (electrical short) but refused to acknowledge that the truck caused my laptop to burn out.

i wasnt happy but i couldnt go any further. i thanked him for his time and left. he was the final person i was able to talk to. we both stayed polite and everything was fine.. ..

my terminal manager reams me a new one with a speach about there's a chain of command and i need to learn it.. (he wasnt happy that i went over his head).. 2-3 months later my very first incident with the company. and im terminated. ive heard of others in the company doing crazy stuff and not getting fired. i honestly feel that i was fired out of vengence and pettiness.. but unfortunatly i cant prove it.

that leaves me with trying to find another job with a very vauge "fired for company policy violation" that apparently no one in the industry likes..

what can i do to get work.

[Rev.Vassago]

At many companies, dropping a trailer due to a kingpin not being properly secured is an automatic termination.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Only bottom feeders will hire with a termination ,So find a bottom feeder ,and do your 6 months ,but you may only need 2 months not 6. I just shake my head however at you for turning yourself in for dropping the trailer since it did not damage the landing gear ...The arline needed fixed probably because you drove away without disconnectig the lines after you panicked from dropping the trailer ,which you could have told that part of the story and left out the dropping ...or just said the airline snagged the deck and broke compltely keeping you out of trouble .

[Mr. Ford95]

Couple of questions, you said no damage but an air line was damaged in the unintentional trailer drop? Did you fix it yourself or call for a mechanic? If you fixed it yourself and everything was good, why did you report it? If you called for a mechanic you should have had a good story ready for why it happened instead of the whole "I dropped the trailer because my kingpin wasn't locked." I mean it's -25 degrees, could have said you dropped it on the catwalk while hooking everything up and it probably would have flown with them.

[Windwalker]

There are also some companies that will terminate you for a "HIGH-HOOK", where the kingpin is too high to hook into the 5th-wheel, and rides over the 5th-wheel and gets caught on the front edge of it. And, as far as damage to the trailer from dropping it on the landing gear... It can cause the floor to come loose, even if you don't see anything. Companies are not happy when something like that happens...

And, if you check with Myth-buster, you'll find that companies can now be fined quite handsomely for your log violations. At a time when money, and not drivers, are the crunch, it is not a good time to cheat on your logs. It doesn't make it the end, but it won't make it easy.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Originally Posted by Windwalker

There are also some companies that will terminate you for a "HIGH-HOOK", where the kingpin is too high to hook into the 5th-wheel, and rides over the 5th-wheel and gets caught on the front edge of it. And, as far as damage to the trailer from dropping it on the landing gear... It can cause the floor to come loose, even if you don't see anything. Companies are not happy when something like that happens...

And, if you check with Myth-buster, you'll find that companies can now be fined quite handsomely for your log violations. At a time when money, and not drivers, are the crunch, it is not a good time to cheat on your logs. It doesn't make it the end, but it won't make it easy.

High hooking will only get you fired if you ram the trailer into the cab ,Or don't realize you've high hooked and pull out and come your first turn you lose your trailer ...I've hooked trailers at night that felt like the trailer apron was sitting flat on fifth wheel skid plate ,but it was just the king ping resting on the 5th wheel skid plate ,and as I slowly edged back waiting to hear a click ,and did not hear one I backed up just a couple more inces and stopped b/c the nose of the trailer was comming past it's usual stopping point...I did this 2x at night one time in a truck with dump-able bags only requiring me to fasten a bunge strap to the 5th wheel keeping it pulled down then dump the bags and pull forward ,And the next time in truck without requiring the bungee strap ,and a good workout cranking the nose of 45.5 k lb load of beer up to clear the 5th wheel ...Since I hook slowly and watch the trailer no damage just wasted time .

[zipy46]

I got hired after being fired for an accident.

But previous to that I had a decent history....so that helped.

Getting booted is not good...but its not the end of the world as i was led to believe.

[Biscuit Lips]

Originally Posted by Windwalker

There are also some companies that will terminate you for a "HIGH-HOOK", where the kingpin is too high to hook into the 5th-wheel, and rides over the 5th-wheel and gets caught on the front edge of it.

How would a company ever find out if you did this? I have done this numerous times in the past, not intentionally but it does happen from time to time. Don't see how it is a big deal though. I am not sure why the original poster even called safety and told them about dropping the trailer.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Well unless you got more history than the one reported trailer drop...you should only have 1 preventable on record ,so as long as the MVR is not littered with tickets your only issue is the termination ,which is overcome by sucking it up and going with a company that probably suxs for 2-6 months ,So if you got a clean criminal past ...no dui ...good mvr...and just 1 non dot parking lot preventable then it's probably only going to be a couple months b4 doors open again ...Also havng Hazmat seems to be plus with companes now ,so adding it does'nt hurt your opportunities .

[McTurbo]

unfortunatly i tend to be very honest. 2nd there were other drivers from my company in the area. i had no idea if they seen me drop it or not. so i reported it to be on the side of caution instead of getting hauled in and canned for not reporting an accident/incident (which i figured would be a lot worse on my dac)


any suggestions on what company to try?