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Burn notice from c r england trucking
Published 2/9
Just to let you know how you might be treated if you go to work for C R England trucking, I want to publish this account of the way they treated me. I wasn't a good driver, but I did the best I could. I gave them suggestions, one of which I was told by Chad England would be discussed at the highest levels and another of which KiKi Walker, my first driver manager used to save C R England trucking fuel. I told John, my second dm, C R England trucking is a well run company with high standards. I loved the company. I admired the England family for what they have accomplished. I, in no way, wanted to hurt or injure them.
C R England trucking, a refrigerated trucking company I drove for about 6 months with 3,500 trucks used me to get a PM done on their truck, then fired me, had me set my belongings in their parking lot, and abandoned me 1,700 miles from home at their yard in Mira Loma, CA, just outside of Los Angeles.
I am not a spy like Michael on "Burn Notice", so I was scared, confused and could have become desparate, injured or killed trying to get myself and my stuff home when I was given a burn notice by C R England trucking, but for the Grace of God. C R England trucking showed absolutely no concern for my welfare. They simply cut me off 1,700 miles from home.
As a result of being fired and abandoned, my brother, a driver, had to route into a place he hates, pay for a motel for 4 days, take freight he wouldn't have, and drive hundreds of miles out of his way to get me home. On the way, a bag of my stuff fell off the truck and was lost.
Some of the details of my leaving the company are as follows. Lawrence Gray, a safety manager, for C R England trucking called me on or about the 29th of October for a safety review of an accident I had about 30 days earlier. During the conversation, he told me C R England was letting me go and he would be back in touch with me that day to arrange a bus ticket home. He never called back.instead, he didn't return my two calls to him that day.
The next morning an intimidating driver named Frank showed up and wanted the truck. I explained I was told I l would be contacted with a bus ticket. He said he couldn't wait, needed to be making money, so I got my stuff out of the truck and stacked it beside the truck in the parking lot.
I called my brother, an owner operator, who drives a step deck trailer. Thank God, he was in Seattle, about 800 miles away and said he would route through LA and pick me and my stuff up. I had way too much stuff to take a bus anyway. Praise God again, I happen to have about $50 dollars on me and called a cab which, for $25 of the $50 I had to my name delivered me and my stuff to Motel 6.
I stayed at the motel for 2 days before my brother got there the evening of the second day. Thank God, my wife, who gets paid once a month had just gotten paid, so I could pay for the room. It was Thursday, and my brother picked up the next four days motel rent until we could get some freight going East. It was crappy freight, a couple of mal formed hubs for a wind turbine.
We put all my stuff, about 8 trash bags, on his upper step, tarped it and tried to secure it best we could and still get the freight on and tied down.
It took us three days to get me to a truck stop so my wife could pick me up. This took my brother a few hundred miles out of his route, from LA to Tampa. Fuel was at an all time high, so a few hundred miles cost him 300 miles at 5 miles to a gallon of diesel is 60 times $5 equals $300 just in fuel. I had no way to pay him, since C R England trucking had left me for 3 and 4 days in Laredo twice in the last month without miles or money. I guess they had been trying to shake me loose for a while.
I don't mean to be a cry baby, but C R England trucking damaged me and my family. C R England trucking fired and abandoned me 1,700 miles from home after trying to starve me out of my livelyhood. I was in an extremely weak financial condition. But for the Grace of God, I have no idea how I would have gotten home let alone gotten my stuff home.
As with any losses, you never realize how much you have lost until months later when you keep missing more and more stuff and realize what it will take to recover.
I knew my $80 KJV bible on CD that I listened to to go to sleep is missing, but I now find my beard and hair trimmer set is gone, my head set is gone... A whole bag of my electronics and belonging fell off the truck somewhere between LA and Lonoke, AR.
This is especially bitter because I had been out of work for 7 weeks before I went to work for C R England trucking. I had bent the landing gear on a trailer and had done $2,200 damage to a traffic light doing a right turn; no damage to the trailer or truck and no one was hurt. I was given a 2 point ticket for careless driving. This incdent was the reason for my firing. Thats the only thing on my license. If C R England is going to fire people because the economy is softening and they don't have freight, they ought to tell you that or at least give the real reason for firing someone. Getting fired as a driver is a serious strike against being able to make a living.
But, I really think the fact I got off of per diem had something to do with my firing. I finally figured out, about the last month I was with C R England trucking, they discount your milage pay 10% on per diem, meaning instead of making 27 cents a mile, I was only making 24.3 cents a mile. This is such lousy pay, its amazing they would cheat drivers busting their butts to make a living in one of the hardest jobs on the planet. At the time, Schneider trucking trained and started totally new drivers out at 30 cents a mile on per diem driving a dry van with a lot less responsibility and hassle. 5.7 cents a mile times 2,000 miles makes a poor driver an extra $114 a week.
I figure C R England cost me $2,000 or more for my stuff and expenses and my brother $3,000 in lost income and time by firing and abandoning me 1,700 miles from home. I am not a rich person and this hurt me and my family.
I had ony been driving for 3 months when I went to work for C R England trucking, so I just wasn't prepared to be treated like this. Its a sad situation when a huge company like C R England trucking can attack and try to destroy an employee who has done nothing but try to make a living for his family.
This attack was totally without warning and was as ruthless as it could have been. Maybe this is standard operating procedure in the trucking industry, or maybe its just the C R England trucking way, but it is wrong. It is totally destructive, especialy in a bad economy. Is our society one that uses people up and throws them away without a thought or consequence?
C R England trucking had some other company call me for an exit interview. I told the company rep about the way I was treated and the damages, at that point I thought were only $500. I told them I would come back to work for them. I asked to be reimbursed. Again, I was used and ignored by C R England. If trucking companies can give drivers exit interviews and ruin any chance of future employment for drivers, I think we out to give them exit interviews and hold them accountable for the damages they inflict on exemployees.
C R England trucking also fought me and kept me from getting $130 a week unemployment for 8 weeks, the max I could have gotten, after firing me without warning and abandoning me 1,700 miles from home 7 weeks before Christmas.
A $10 "fix it ticket" I got in CA for a 2" tear on a mud flap C R England trucking didn't take care of and didn't let me know I could take care of is now a $530 ticket because I didn't have the money to pay it when it was a $130 ticket as a result of being fired and abandoned 1,700 miles from home by C R England trucking.
I hate that I dissappointed my wife and son. I hate that I dissappointed C R England. I hate that I failed as a driver.
I hope C R England trucking does't do this to anyone else. It seems to me the way I was treated was heavy handed, without conscience and vengeful in return for my best efforts.
I pray for Chad England and C R England trucking, because they know not what they do when they attack a child of God. Forgive them Father and draw them to You. Its in Christ's name I pray.
Charles aka Arbroker
Lonoke, Arkansas
U.S.A.
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