First let me start by saying I am new to the trucking industry. After getting my CDL while I was unemployed for a year and a half in May I was finally able to get a job with Schneider in Jan1. I had a job at the time working in a factory, but was foolish enough to believe the recruiter when she told me I was going to make much more than I was making at the factory. So I quit my job to go work for Schneider.
In May I was terminated from Schneider for having two preventable accidents. My first incident occurred on March 25th in Raymond NH. Delivering a load. This was only my 2nd week driving on my own after my training. I had never been there before so when I turned into the gate which as you first come in is poorly lit I saw a sign that said trucks to the left I couldn't see the whole thing. So I got in the left hand lane and approached the guard shack at which time I saw a sign there that said Wall mart drivers left lane. The guard then came out and directed me to back up and get in the right lane which I did. I noticed my trailer was a little crooked and looking back I probably could've steered to the right as I went through and I would've made it I think.
However I turned my wheel to the left looked in both my mirrors and after not seeing anything behind me I put the truck in reverse and started to ease off the clutch. Just as the clutch started to grab, I heard someone yelling so I stopped. I don't think I even moved an inch. I got out of the truck and saw that I had a Land air express truck directly behind me with his lights on. The driver was standing out side the truck and pointing to the front of his truck. I walked to the back of my trailer and didn't see a scratch on his front grill which is just thin aluminum which would've been the first point of contact with my trailer as that the back of the box sticks out past the DOT bumper.
He then pointed at his front bottom bumper which was angled back and sits in more towards the truck. I looked at my DOT bumper and saw that it didn't even line up with the small dent on the bottom bumper that was a little smaller than the size of my fist it was round and about 3 inches in diameter. Looking back on this I think it was kind of strange that at that time he never verbally said anything about damage he just pointed when I asked him if I did any damage.
The driver then told me he needed all my information which I gave to him. As we were exchanging information I contacted dispatch on my cell phone and they transferred me to the accident dept. And I was giving the girl in the accident dept all the information over the phone as the other driver and myself were exchanging information.
When we were done and walking back to our trucks the other driver told me and I quote " Well you're going to love this when I came in this afternoon I noticed damage already on that front bumper, the day shift guy must've hit something and not reported it " I don't recall my exact words but it was something like you're kidding me right. I immediately called the accident dept back and told them what the other driver said. I told them the only damage I saw was what I described above.
I was unable to take pictures as that I had just gotten that cell phone that day and was unable to work the camera. So the accident person I spoke to said so in other words you didn't cause any of the damage and I said no I don't think so. I'm not even sure I hit the guy. Because when I got back to the rail yard in Worcester I spoke to another Schneider driver that was leaving Wall mart as I was going in. He asked me what was going on and I told him what had happened, He said he was wondering why that guy was so close to the back of my trailer literally inches he said and with his lights off.
He said all he saw was the guys lights come on and me get out of my truck and go talk to him. He said he never even saw my truck move. Even my DBL who was once a driver for 20 years said that the guy probably hit something on the way there and just set me up to cover himself. And every Schneider driver that I've talked to has told me that I probably didn't even hit the guys truck.
However at the time I simply assumed ownership because I felt it was the right thing to do as that even though I checked my mirrors I should've gotten out and looked. I have done so every time before I have done any backing since that incident so I did learn from my mistake.
I feel that with the information that I had given Schneider that they could've investigated this incident further before paying out any money such as checking the driving record of the other driver to see if he has had any other incidents such as this. Or even contacted his company to inform them what he had told me about the damage.
On the most recent incident that I had I was in Bloomfeild CT. Delivering a load. The guard pointed out a spot at the front of the lot and told me that I could go in and swing out to the left and do a blind side backing into the spot. I imformed him that Schneiders policy is that blind side parking should be avoided when at all possible and that I didn't feel comfortable with that anyway. I asked him if I could go in further and turn around. He said yes and that if I found any other spots I could back into one of them.
As I drove into the lot and went past the first spot on my right that he told me about and I noticed it looked pretty tight and it was right near the entrance so I would've had to swing out into the path of trucks coming in and going out of the lot and I felt it would be unsafe and a hindrance to other drivers, so I went down about half way and after waiting a couple of minutes for another truck to move out of the way I went over to my left and made a right hand turn around in the lot which was wide enough to do so.
As I came down the row of parked trailers on my left I saw a spot that looked good. I lined up my truck at the spot and looked out my left side mirror. It looked as if I was approximately 4 feet from the trailers with the side of my trailer. I put my truck in first gear as that I've found the 12 O'clock 9 O'clock maneuver that we were taught at Schneider to work best as a slow maneuver. I turned my wheel all the way to the right and proceeded to get my 12 O' Clock.
As I was doing so I heard a bang but thought that it was the Yard Jockey that was over to the right side of the parking lot hooking up to a trailer. I then went ahead and got my 9 O'clock position. Then I looked out my left mirror again and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I was just about to do my before backing get out when the Yard Jockey pulled up along side me and said " Hey you know you just clipped that trailer " I got out and he and myself both walked over to the row of trailers. There I saw a trailer that was sticking out a little more than the others.
The mount that holds the glad hands located on the right side of the front of the trailer were busted off. The yard Jockey told me that it was just the left (driver side) corner of the rear of my trailer that swung out and clipped it. I immediately reported this to the accident dept. I don't really have any excuse, but I was exercising caution when I did this it wasn't like I was rushing and being careless. I have done that same exact maneuver probably 100 times in the past 3 months and never had any problem. However if given another chance I will get out and look before even starting any such maneuver again.
I appealed my leaders decision to Terminate me even though she said it was the safety departments decision. I later found out it was hers and hers alone. Under Schneiders fair and Equitable treatment Step two is to appeal the decision with her leader or Manager, which I did. He natuarally sided with her and upheld the original decision to terminate me. I then went to step 3 which is to have the appeal go through a review board made up of 3 drivers and two managers in a diferent division than mine that have no prior knowledge of the incidents in question.
However the day after I sent the appeal paperwork into the Manager that upheld the original decision he imformed me that after contacting the HR dept that this would be reviewed by two people the VP of Loss prevention and the VP of Intermodal. Two days later I recieved a phone call from some girl named Lisa with Schneider saying that they upheld the original decision. They didn't even have the Testicular Fortitude to contact me themselves nor did they ask any questions.
When the first incident occurred I imformed the Schneider accident department of the statement that the driver made to me regarding the damage on his bumper already being there. I also imformed my group leader what the other Schneider driver who wittnessed the incident told me when I saw him later at the Worcester rail yard. She asked me his name I told her what I thought it was but I wasn't sure of his name. I also told my DBL about him and gave him a discription.
All I new at that time was that he had short black hair was about 5'10" tall wore glasses and drove a day cab on the night shift. He is on days now out of the same yard I worked out of. My DBL said he could find out who he is. I spoke to the same driver a few weeks later and learned that no one spoke to him. He told me he would gladly talk to the DBL because he said he did not believe that I backed in to the other driver's truck at all..
Also no one from Schneider bothered to call the other driver's company, to imform them of what their driver said about the damage already being on his bumper. And I don't understand how my DOT bumper which doesn't stick out as far as the trailer itself could strike his bumper which was positioned further in than the grill of his truck without the grill of his truck being smashed in by the back of the trailer the grill didn't have a scratch on it. I believe that this evidence, which was over looked, strongly suggest that there was a good possibility that I never backed into this other driver.
Also in that particular incident I did in fact get out prior to straight backing in the left hand lane. I then proceeded forward while steering to the right to get into the right lane and while doing so I had a clear view from my right hand mirror all the way down the right lane approximately 700-800 feet all the way to the highway. There were no vehicles comming down the lane. Also I question why the other vehicle was parked so close behind me with his lights off as that even in CDL school we are taught to always stop at a distance of 20 feet behind the vehicle in front of you. We were taught that at the Schneider school in Carlisle as well and I have seen that in the CDL manuals for MA, RI and PA.
And finally my other reason for requesting a diferent decision was that I didn't feel that these two minor while regretable incidents should end my entire career as a truck driver. And that is what a termination on my record will do. I've gone to several other companies and no one will hire me with a termination on my record. When I spoke to the accident dept on March 25 I was extremely upset as that this first incident happened my second week driving for Schneider. The girl I spoke to, assured me that you have to have 3 preventables in 3 months in order to be terminated.
I was told that I was being terminated for having 2 in 6 months. I have spoken to several drivers with over 20 years of experience including 4 or 5 from Schneider and they all told me that they had a few incidents when they were first starting out. They also told me that the main thing is that you learn from your mistakes and believe me I have. When I was taught the 12 O'clock 9 O'clock set up for backing in between two trailers at the Schneider training facility in Carlisle PA. I was never instructed to get out before you do the set up. However after the second incident I learned that that is something I will do from now on.
. I also spoke to my dispatcher at the time of the second incident, who told me to calm down he told me to stay focused as that I still had another load to pick up and deliver which I did without incident. He told me he had seen alot of other drivers do alot worse than what I did and that they were still employed by Schneider.
So now I'm not only unemployed again, but basicly Schneider is black balling me. They don't back up their drivers at all. I guess any other driver can pull in close behind a Schneider driver and say hey that guy just backed into me and Schneider will put the blame on their own driver.
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