December 2009. Let's start with the group. There were 60 people in the group I started in. By the time we went for road test there were only a few of us and after road tests minus the failures I only remember 2 or 3 left. A good portion of them ended up having some kind of ticket they never told about on the application. I was almost gone after first week due to that only I did put it down but they wanted a copy of the ticket and told me I had 2 hours to get it or I was done. I got ahold of police department they faxed the ticket but the only thing that came out on England's end was blank ticket with no writing because it was so faded it wouldn't show. I worked it out so that I tried and the station talked to England and said they would mail them a copy. Lucky. Others were in tears cause this was all they had left. This happened a week into classes.
Next a few of us were put In advanced program which we opted in because let's say we were really smart. We went for our permits. Not bragging but I was the 3rd one done and they said I was the 2nd highest scorer in the state of Indiana. Come to find out JD who finished just before me was number 1 in the state. I missed 1 question so obviously he got them all. We studied more and were taken out in trucks with trainers for a load or 2 over night. That was all fine. We all did good. After the road tests for temp license there were only 2 of us JD and I. Once back to hotel he grabbed a bus home and said I'm not getting screwed. I stayed. First trainer was awesome said I was a natural I only got $120 a week while training. That trainer showed me his check when he went home for Christmas over 5000. We hauled a** and were a good team. He offered to take me home but I stayed in the truck for Christmas. He brought me turkey dinner. Great guy Robert Murphy. Second trainer was fine the first day then became the biggest ignorant moronic ex marine a******. Worst part is he lived 20 miles from me in Maine. His name was Mark A******. We got into screaming matches while I was driving saying I was doing it all wrong and not paying attention. He was on his phone 90% of the time not even watching me. On top of that I was supposed to be getting paid by the mile training then and he would not sleep while I was driving. He'd stay up and if he got too tired he made me pull over so he could sleep then only drive a few hours and do it all over. Needless to say after we stopped he was nice the next 3 days and we were headed to Utah with a load. We got to England he said get your stuff and get out they want you inside. I go in and they said I had so many hard brakes etc asked me why. Which I replied you guys said to hit deer but avoid anything bigger and people were cutting me off. They then said Mark told them I was doing drugs on the truck and he feared for his life. I said are you serious? They immediately sent me for a drug test which I obviously passed. The set me up with a 3rd trainer and said this is it anymore problems you're gone.
Third trainer James Mack another great guy! We did our thing and drove. My temp license was about to expire. We notified England 2 weeks ahead of time like they told us to do. My training was supposedly finished and all I had to do was get back and sign some paperwork and I was ready to lease. Because license was expiring they didn't want me back there until I went home and renewed it. They couldn't come up with a load even remotely close to my state according to them. Finally license expired. Still no load and I wasn't getting paid now. 2 more weeks went by with me just riding as a passenger. The trainer was feeding me out of his own pocket and couldn't believe that was happening. Finally they coughed up a bus ticket. I got dropped off late and missed the bus. I got ticket changed but had to get to next bus station 20 miles away with no money and 3 huge bags of my stuff. I thumbed all night into the morning. Finally some mexicans let me in the back of their truck and took me when they found out what happened. Got home which actually was New Hampshire at that particular time. They said oh your license is expired? You'll have to take some tests over to get it. I called Maine and told them my situation. They said I had an active license up there still and they could transfer it. I went up still having family at the address on file did it all and got my paper license. Hard would be mailed and I'd get in 2 weeks.
2 weeks went by. Called Maine. Oh we're sorry our computers were down that day and never got put it. They put it in while on phone. In the mean time I was calling England cause they told me to keep them notified and they would get me back out there as soon as I had the hard license. 2 more weeks went by I got the license called England and this is what I got. You've been off the truck for over 30 days you need a refresher course which is $1500 and we need that up front. I said but this is day 31 and I kept in touch and you guys know it's not my fault. Sir it doesn't matter, you were off for 30 days we can't help you unless you have $1500. Can you take out a loan or borrow it off someone? I sold my car for food money out there and gave up a place to live that I luckily was allowed back and gave up what little work I had to get out there. F*** YOU and hung up. Eagle Atlantic which we all know is run and owned by England sent me bills and bills for training cost. Never paid not getting a dime. I'm trying to fix my credit now and the place I used ended up giving them my number. They called me and asked for their money and wanted to make arrangements. I told them what happened and I never finished their training. They said C.R. England had me down as hired in December of 2009 which means I finished my training. I said If I finished training why was I still with trainers? You guys aren't getting anything from me. Would you like us to put this into collections? Yea! You should've done it 3 years ago! That was my experience.
Hello I'm writing about this because it is what it is and financial options are limited. I went through the C.R. England/Premiere Truck Driving School in Fontana Ca. I recieved my California Class A cdl, in seventeen days, and put into phase 1 training with C. R. England Global Transportation. Phase 1 training is a minimum of 20,000 miles,and /or 30 days,whichever comes first. I was held in Phase 1 training over 30 days and 36,000 miles. Directed into an accidents 4hrs. away from my phase 2 upgrade in the Fontana,California training facility, After being routed away from afore mentioned facility a week previous at the request of Trainer/ Mentor and routed to Washington State, and Wiconsin to deliver and pick up loads before being taken by mentor to pickup load in Illinois, and being dropped off in Burns Harbor Indiana. For what reason I had not been made aware. This was on a friday after working hrs, so I had to wait until monday take a ride into Burns Harbor facility to find out reason, which they could not tell me and instead instructed me to return to hotel, call D.M. and safety coordinator (which since I was no longer assigned to the truck for training had been changed once again, found this out when I called my last T.C., he being the third one since going out in phas1). I had met all the requirements of phase 1 training in as much as I could on my own. My Trainer/Mentor being of little assistance due to the fact that he was going through personal problems and was subject to tantrums at little provocation.....ie my shifting,... ect. Before the minimum of 72 hrs after I was on the truck he called saftey so that I could Drive nights [between 1-4am], at which point he woke me up to talk to the safety guy so that he could talk to me and see how I felt about it and tell me the reponsibilitiies of driving between the afore mentioned hrs. I told him that I was okay with it, he expressed his concerns as to the trainer/mentor waking me up for this which I had no problems with because then the trainer/mentor would be asleep for most of my shift and I would not have to deal with his tantrums or him untill he had to be awake). What I found out was that I had been taken to burns Harbor by my Trainer/Mentor for a driving evaluation told this by a safety coordinator after I had called everyone that I could think to call she called me. I passed the Driving Evaluation, which I had heard my Driver/Mentor previously tell someone over the phone that he in fact believed I would, or could. At the point of our last drop i had over 34,000 miles.I had already passed the miles needed for phase one and phase two portions of training, and had at least 30,000 miles the week before when in California.This in being on the truck with from March 21st until May 10th with ten days of down time, one sitting and one rolling thirty two hours resets, you can do the math, at 600 miles max a day for the alloted days minus two days before I was put off of his truck in burns Harbor because I was no longer officially assinged to his truck and couldn't drive. If there had been a serious problem with my driving then don't you think I would have been put off before time? This is why I feel that people should not deal with C.R. England because I had done everything that they had asked and everything I knew to do and still I got screwed. No job, no money and a bunch of bull.
First off my case is complicated. While I was on 'phase 2' training, I found out from my co-driver I was assigned to drive on Phase 2, that the morning we were to be assigned our truck, that in the Driver's Resource Center, the Phase 2 training coordinator was telling everyone in the Driver's Resource Center about 'me', as he had inferred that I could not be placed with another driver because I was "with an elevator that did not go all the way to the top" due to my research work before I joined the company. Others in the Driver's Resource Center, a group of approximately one dozen ear and eyewitnesses, also heard this man defame me. Two days out on the truck with the primary witness, he then said; "you know, I have to tell you what was going on before you were assigned the truck with me.." So he did. He told me in great detail about the defamation by the Phase 2 training coordinator, whom I will not name here. Of course I was absolutely furious but as we were hauling freight for the company I just stowed that anger till the next day when I composed a QUALCOMM message to the training driver manager, a guy named Carter Smith, who is no longer with the company. That message I asked to be forwarded to H.R., so they could investigate the defamation of character issue and the slander. They ignored the Qualcomm message entirely but I took pictures of it with my phone camera and also wrote it verbatim in my notebook...for safe keeping. Now, incidentally my temporary drivers license was due to expire in a few short days and I had sent another message informing Carter Smith that it was time to get me headed west to my home state so that I could convert the temporary before it expired.
The next day we got a load assignment taking the truck further east...farther away. I reminded him that two weeks earlier we had the truck in my home state not far from a DL division and it would be easier then to just have me get the license converted the next morning so that the necessity to wait till the last minute was no longer an issue. I had been getting 'non-dispatch' holds on me going back to Salt Lake City and the Driver's Resource Center, D.O.T. Compliance person, Alison Hill, would call me to her cubicle and remind me that my license would indeed expire soon. I told her that I had had an opportunity to convert it but the company ignored that first chance but at that time we had about a little over a week and a half to get me back, and she said my driver manager on the Q9 fleet, Carter Smith would probably get me back for that. Instead, what Carter Smith did was send the message stating that our next load would take me to Columbus, Ohio...further away. I told him in a Quallcomm message that this was not a game any longer and that the license was just mere days from expiry an that I would be unable to drive my share of the miles in the truck once that happened. He then informed the other driver, a nice guy named W. Sprague, that his instructions were to take me to South Holland and drop me off there. We went to the South Holland C.R. England maintenance yard near the rock quarry there not far from Gary, Indiana, and we waited there for further instructions. Next Sprague gets instructions to take me to Burns Harbor and drop me, as he had been dispatched with the load assignment to go to Eagan, Minnesota. I told Sprague that if I remained on the truck we could do the load assignment together and that if he then dropped me at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport then I could fly home and get my license converted. Instead he simply did as he was told and dropped me in Burns Harbor. I then tried to ascertain at the Burns Harbor School which was now after hours, what was next, but nobody was there to discuss the matter so I caught their shuttle to their flea bag motel called HOMETOWN, which was 'full' and hence had to give me a voucher to stay next door at a dump called Motel 6, which had a dirt floor in the bathroom covered with slats of wood.
So, I could not reach anyone till the next day so I then called D.O.T. compliance and spoke with Shauna Garat and another person in D.O.T. compliance and told them my story. Both of them told me that my plan that I informed them of, of taking a flight out of Midway and going home to Seattle, was a good plan, and to just track my expenses and provide that information to them when I could. So, I caught the C.R. England shuttle van to the regional bus transit terminal in Gary, IN. and caught that bus to Midway Airport At Midway I contacted SW Airlines and they had a seat available on a flight that left in 2 hours, so I then booked the seat, paid with my credit card over the phone, and called C.R. England's Shauna Garat to inform her that I was booked and going to get the license converted. By the way, this was 'thursday' afternoon, and Monday my 'temporary' UTAH CDL A license would be expired. Note: No DMV locations in Washington operate on MONDAY, which was May 12th. In any case I got home, and went to DMV the next morning and got my license converted. Then I sent images of the new license within 4 days to C.R. England's recruiter, Travis Manchester, who recruited me, and my future 'team' driver to forward to the DM or Driver Manager for my new fleet I was being assigned to. In any case, in a couple days I got a phone call telling me that my license had now expired, coming from D.O.T. compliance person Ms. Garat. I informed her that I had converted my license and it did NOT EXPIRE. In any case, in a few short days my new team driver, Robert Richards, picked me up and we proceded to drive for 2 weeks and haul freight.
In the meantime I called my 'new' driver manager and told him that it was imperative that they work out the reimbursal for my rescuing my license. I spoke to Payroll, then to D.O.T. Compliance, Ms. Garat, and around and around and around it went till finally Payroll said; "listen, Carter Smith needs to approve the reimbursal.." She then hung up on me and that was that. I tried contacting Carter Smith and left numerous phone messages on his AUDIX phone system which he never returned. I also asked my new DM if he could do anything but he informed me that he had done all that he could do. Finally, as I had now been on the fleet truck for two weeks I had noted my COMDATA card had not been filled with any pay. And, I contacted the DM and told him; "Look, the company stranded me without a plan in Burns Harbor after Carter Smith lied and said that he dropped me there requiring further training, something I had not heard from any other source, not my co-driver or anyone else. Also he had told Sprague when Sprague dropped me off, that another truck would come to get me. At HOMETOWN the lady at the desk there said; "IF there were a truck dispatched to get you, I'd know about it...and there is NO TRUCK.." In any case, i had the DM on the phone and asked him to get me home. He apologized for what the company had done to me and promised me he would get me there as soon as he could. In the meantime we hauled a couple more loads of freight between Los Angeles and central california, and finally the DM routed us to drop me in Seattle, via a load or two in Pasco, WA.
Once I dismounted the truck, I expected someone from C.R. England to call me but nobody did. I finally got Payroll to get someone e-mailed in H.R. about the defamation issue and the stranding, and told her to make sure that they would contact me. Nobody contacted me. Then, I called and got routed to a DRIVER ADVOCATE person, who promised me that they would investigate the defamation and discrimination complaint I had made way back in my Phase 2 training. When I spoke to that person again she said they were investigating the issue.
Now, after two weeks home, an e-mail comes in from the Driver's Resource Center person Sale Manueleua, informing me that it was time to get me a ticket to get back onto a truck. I told him that the ONLY WAY that I would do this is if they paid me for my travel expenses, and fully investigated the defamation issue and responded in a way that made it clear that those involved in the D.R.C. that day, the incident that Sprague witnessed, was properly addressed by them. And I made it clear that under no circumstances would I be boarding any bus until I was told what the plan was to re-integrate me with the fleet. In about 45 minutes, an e-mail then comes in threatening me with dismissal, by an official I surmised was in H.R., by the name of Jonathan Peto. All my prior e-mails from the gent named Mr. Sale Manuleleua from the DRC, were c.c.'d to a guy named Woodson Witt, whom I presumed was their legal counsel. Mr. Peto's e-mail stipulated that I owed tuition money and if I were terminated that I was responsible to pay that to them. Now be advised as an honorably discharged veteran, the U.S. Government paid them, so they had already received the tuition from the government. And, my requests for all documents signed by me at the school to be 'xeroxed' and given me, which was assured me by their H.R. girl before I left, never were given to me. I had written a signing statement that in effect said I was not in agreement with the cost of the tuition reimbursal, and as I had agreed to drive for them for 6 months which was my intent, I also knew that their physician said he would not re-issue my medical which was only good for 6 months. And that was not conditional...that was not negotiable. I had informed Mr. Peto that it was 'not appropriate' to threaten me with termination under these circumstances, and that their best course of action was to put together a plan to pay me and investigate the defamation issue and advise me what action they took against those involved in the D.R.C. that day.
In any case, it has been two days since the threat of termination. No contact in any way by them so far.
Now, my problem is manifold with C.R. England. First, their contract was an illegal document because I have never ever signed ANY CONTRACT and been summarily refused copies of ALL PAPERS SIGNED BY ME. Yet they refused to give me those. And I was not the only driver that they did this to.
Second, i hauled freight for them as a student, for tens of thousands of miles, and was afforded a shower every fourth or fifth or sixth day out, we drove so hard, so this was a health hazard they imposed by the schedule we drove under. Next, the pay was absolutely below minimum wage per hour of work.
Third, they forced my Phase 2 driver and myself to drive freight without a Bill of Lading on the truck for intrastate transport of a load we had no way to inspect without breaking the seal on the trailer.
Fourth, as they stranded me once, and egregiously harmed my reputation ON PURPOSE, defaming me in the D.R.C. before I went out on Phase 2 with Sprague, they at least owed me an honest and sincere apology for Carter Smith's stranding me perhaps in direct retaliation for reporting the defamation issue ot him and the rest of C.R. England management on the Qualcomm terminal on the day after Sprague confided in me how badly and terribly I had been disparaged in the D.R.C. when I wasn't there to defend myself.
Fifth and last point, they owe me for the costs incurred to rescue my license. I paid that out of my own pocket, and I was assured by both D.O.T. compliance personnel, as well as Sale Manuleleua, that I would be paid in full, for the travel home to rescue the expiring license. Mr. Manuleleua advised me that I would have to get back on a truck and fill out an 'A/R' to be reimbursed, and I told him that 'no' this was not acceptable, that they could pay me either by check or deposit on my COMDATA payroll card. That was what prompted the 'firing' threat by Mr. Peto...which was not under any circumstances even close to acceptable.
In summary, this is a long story, but as an honorably discharged military veteran who held high level security clearances and had nuclear weapons duties in the miltary, that it was not appropriate to besmirch my reputation and defame me gratuitously for my prior work I had done before joining the company. I was always polite and congenial, but made it a point to truthfully and honestly fill out the DRIVER SURVEYS which are not anonymous but linked to your S.S. number. I never ever held back valid criticism of the shortcomings of their training, and the hazardous conditions precipitated by instructors who demanded action on the highway, in their trucks, which would have involved at the least, serious bodily injury or 'death' of other motorists and perhaps others in the truck with us at the time, as often other students would be onboard. The living conditions at their Salt Lake City school if you would call it that, were nothing less than despicable, and I never ever in the U.S., before being stranded in Burns Harbor, ever stayed the night in a U.S. motel with a dirt floor in the bathroom. That was pretty damned pathetic.
All in all, if the U.S. Federal Government paid for my tuition as I believe they have, they should ask for full reimbursal, and ask the company to ask their physician why he issued me a six month medical with no intent to renew that, based on a medical condition that still allowed me to drive freight for tens of thousands of miles, for months at a time, under duress of schedule and with showers every 4 or 5 or maybe 6 days apart. My 'team' driver, Robert Richards, was paid, as I was, a mere '11 cents' per mile while I was on the truck, and his regular pay was 29 cents a mile, which mean that he was losing money driving 'team' with me on the truck.
This is not truck driving, this is indentured enslaved servitude to a fly by night, disrespectful of honorably discharged veteran's, company that is more a 'puppy mill' than a trucking firm. A firm that makes up the rules as it goes, and gives the drivers absolutely not one voice. Not one voice, when they are egregiously harmed and defamed and stranded by them.
Look starting out wasnt bad. but i got the shaft. first off horizon truck sales an lease trun around an let female start my llc then trun around leased a truck under me with out permission then equniox tax people miss lead info an didnt put the right informtion in for taxes. then took money out my account on put the truck in shop pm then it came out not running an they blamed me an still took money out of my account for what they fuck up on truck. then got under load at va an now got put in jail on false charges. then took all my private stuff what i had in the truck its all gone because they stoled it all cant find where it went. so dont go an nother thing read there contracts well because if dont an u become a trainer for them they will take money out to pay for there students while there on the truck.
Texas Workforce Commission, Joe Warren April 5,2011
I must have sent in almost 25 pages on C.R.England and how they only care about the freight and not the employee. not paying, me! for the miles, I had driven, accross country. landing me, into a Homelss, shealter because of money not being into my account when dispatch told me? all of your pay, is into your account I was their 2weeks. I stated on request for all my belongings. I call myself going beyound my call, with this company, and here is why. [without Myself ]- A-New co-driver! pick's up!, my truck, up from the, repair shop, with everything I owned. for months. traveling around in, a some what 2010 new looking truck, that I drove, and later broke, down. stuck in a hotel my dispatch called me, Next day! and said! go for one day, and pick up another truck, in another state. taking the grayhound bus, with very little cloths the rest of my cloths where within the truck left behind in the repair shop. so I am, headed to pick up and drop off. and deliver product Goods, okay1 as long as I can get back in time to receive My truck, and belongings. dispatch not a problem, I will have the driver drop the cloths etc. off to you. 3month later and Nothing but promising. their is so, much to this. the out come TWF claim they could find nothing wrong. and that the company does not owe me pay. in 2012 3 or 4 month of the year. NOW IN 2014 INTERAL ADUIT PAYMENT RECEIVED. I received my last check, nothing about money for over 5,000.00 in cloths suite coats, shoes, Men dress Slacks, truck navigator, and more. I stated my wife was ill, and in the hospital-keep on driving, we will get you home, to your wife, in little LA. THIS IS WRONG! I COULD NOT AFFORD TO SUE THIS COMPANY! THEIF REPORT'S i NEED TO COME TO UATH. sorry! for misspelled or not to clear to understanding, just say! no to foolishness, from trucking co.
Texas Workforce commission, U.S. equal Employment opportunity Commission
where is my help! from you..was it just, wasted time. or in the, bed with client.
C.R. England Reviews
December 2009. Let's start with the group. There were 60 people in the group I started in. By the time we went for road test there were only a few of us and after road tests minus the failures I only remember 2 or 3 left. A good portion of them ended up having some kind of ticket they never told about on the application. I was almost gone after first week due to that only I did put it down but they wanted a copy of the ticket and told me I had 2 hours to get it or I was done. I got ahold of police department they faxed the ticket but the only thing that came out on England's end was blank ticket with no writing because it was so faded it wouldn't show. I worked it out so that I tried and the station talked to England and said they would mail them a copy. Lucky. Others were in tears cause this was all they had left. This happened a week into classes.
Next a few of us were put In advanced program which we opted in because let's say we were really smart. We went for our permits. Not bragging but I was the 3rd one done and they said I was the 2nd highest scorer in the state of Indiana. Come to find out JD who finished just before me was number 1 in the state. I missed 1 question so obviously he got them all. We studied more and were taken out in trucks with trainers for a load or 2 over night. That was all fine. We all did good. After the road tests for temp license there were only 2 of us JD and I. Once back to hotel he grabbed a bus home and said I'm not getting screwed. I stayed. First trainer was awesome said I was a natural I only got $120 a week while training. That trainer showed me his check when he went home for Christmas over 5000. We hauled a** and were a good team. He offered to take me home but I stayed in the truck for Christmas. He brought me turkey dinner. Great guy Robert Murphy. Second trainer was fine the first day then became the biggest ignorant moronic ex marine a******. Worst part is he lived 20 miles from me in Maine. His name was Mark A******. We got into screaming matches while I was driving saying I was doing it all wrong and not paying attention. He was on his phone 90% of the time not even watching me. On top of that I was supposed to be getting paid by the mile training then and he would not sleep while I was driving. He'd stay up and if he got too tired he made me pull over so he could sleep then only drive a few hours and do it all over. Needless to say after we stopped he was nice the next 3 days and we were headed to Utah with a load. We got to England he said get your stuff and get out they want you inside. I go in and they said I had so many hard brakes etc asked me why. Which I replied you guys said to hit deer but avoid anything bigger and people were cutting me off. They then said Mark told them I was doing drugs on the truck and he feared for his life. I said are you serious? They immediately sent me for a drug test which I obviously passed. The set me up with a 3rd trainer and said this is it anymore problems you're gone.
Third trainer James Mack another great guy! We did our thing and drove. My temp license was about to expire. We notified England 2 weeks ahead of time like they told us to do. My training was supposedly finished and all I had to do was get back and sign some paperwork and I was ready to lease. Because license was expiring they didn't want me back there until I went home and renewed it. They couldn't come up with a load even remotely close to my state according to them. Finally license expired. Still no load and I wasn't getting paid now. 2 more weeks went by with me just riding as a passenger. The trainer was feeding me out of his own pocket and couldn't believe that was happening. Finally they coughed up a bus ticket. I got dropped off late and missed the bus. I got ticket changed but had to get to next bus station 20 miles away with no money and 3 huge bags of my stuff. I thumbed all night into the morning. Finally some mexicans let me in the back of their truck and took me when they found out what happened. Got home which actually was New Hampshire at that particular time. They said oh your license is expired? You'll have to take some tests over to get it. I called Maine and told them my situation. They said I had an active license up there still and they could transfer it. I went up still having family at the address on file did it all and got my paper license. Hard would be mailed and I'd get in 2 weeks.
2 weeks went by. Called Maine. Oh we're sorry our computers were down that day and never got put it. They put it in while on phone. In the mean time I was calling England cause they told me to keep them notified and they would get me back out there as soon as I had the hard license. 2 more weeks went by I got the license called England and this is what I got. You've been off the truck for over 30 days you need a refresher course which is $1500 and we need that up front. I said but this is day 31 and I kept in touch and you guys know it's not my fault. Sir it doesn't matter, you were off for 30 days we can't help you unless you have $1500. Can you take out a loan or borrow it off someone? I sold my car for food money out there and gave up a place to live that I luckily was allowed back and gave up what little work I had to get out there. F*** YOU and hung up. Eagle Atlantic which we all know is run and owned by England sent me bills and bills for training cost. Never paid not getting a dime. I'm trying to fix my credit now and the place I used ended up giving them my number. They called me and asked for their money and wanted to make arrangements. I told them what happened and I never finished their training. They said C.R. England had me down as hired in December of 2009 which means I finished my training. I said If I finished training why was I still with trainers? You guys aren't getting anything from me. Would you like us to put this into collections? Yea! You should've done it 3 years ago! That was my experience.
Hello I'm writing about this because it is what it is and financial options are limited. I went through the C.R. England/Premiere Truck Driving School in Fontana Ca. I recieved my California Class A cdl, in seventeen days, and put into phase 1 training with C. R. England Global Transportation. Phase 1 training is a minimum of 20,000 miles,and /or 30 days,whichever comes first. I was held in Phase 1 training over 30 days and 36,000 miles. Directed into an accidents 4hrs. away from my phase 2 upgrade in the Fontana,California training facility, After being routed away from afore mentioned facility a week previous at the request of Trainer/ Mentor and routed to Washington State, and Wiconsin to deliver and pick up loads before being taken by mentor to pickup load in Illinois, and being dropped off in Burns Harbor Indiana. For what reason I had not been made aware. This was on a friday after working hrs, so I had to wait until monday take a ride into Burns Harbor facility to find out reason, which they could not tell me and instead instructed me to return to hotel, call D.M. and safety coordinator (which since I was no longer assigned to the truck for training had been changed once again, found this out when I called my last T.C., he being the third one since going out in phas1). I had met all the requirements of phase 1 training in as much as I could on my own. My Trainer/Mentor being of little assistance due to the fact that he was going through personal problems and was subject to tantrums at little provocation.....ie my shifting,... ect. Before the minimum of 72 hrs after I was on the truck he called saftey so that I could Drive nights [between 1-4am], at which point he woke me up to talk to the safety guy so that he could talk to me and see how I felt about it and tell me the reponsibilitiies of driving between the afore mentioned hrs. I told him that I was okay with it, he expressed his concerns as to the trainer/mentor waking me up for this which I had no problems with because then the trainer/mentor would be asleep for most of my shift and I would not have to deal with his tantrums or him untill he had to be awake). What I found out was that I had been taken to burns Harbor by my Trainer/Mentor for a driving evaluation told this by a safety coordinator after I had called everyone that I could think to call she called me. I passed the Driving Evaluation, which I had heard my Driver/Mentor previously tell someone over the phone that he in fact believed I would, or could. At the point of our last drop i had over 34,000 miles.I had already passed the miles needed for phase one and phase two portions of training, and had at least 30,000 miles the week before when in California.This in being on the truck with from March 21st until May 10th with ten days of down time, one sitting and one rolling thirty two hours resets, you can do the math, at 600 miles max a day for the alloted days minus two days before I was put off of his truck in burns Harbor because I was no longer officially assinged to his truck and couldn't drive. If there had been a serious problem with my driving then don't you think I would have been put off before time? This is why I feel that people should not deal with C.R. England because I had done everything that they had asked and everything I knew to do and still I got screwed. No job, no money and a bunch of bull.
First off my case is complicated. While I was on 'phase 2' training, I found out from my co-driver I was assigned to drive on Phase 2, that the morning we were to be assigned our truck, that in the Driver's Resource Center, the Phase 2 training coordinator was telling everyone in the Driver's Resource Center about 'me', as he had inferred that I could not be placed with another driver because I was "with an elevator that did not go all the way to the top" due to my research work before I joined the company. Others in the Driver's Resource Center, a group of approximately one dozen ear and eyewitnesses, also heard this man defame me. Two days out on the truck with the primary witness, he then said; "you know, I have to tell you what was going on before you were assigned the truck with me.." So he did. He told me in great detail about the defamation by the Phase 2 training coordinator, whom I will not name here. Of course I was absolutely furious but as we were hauling freight for the company I just stowed that anger till the next day when I composed a QUALCOMM message to the training driver manager, a guy named Carter Smith, who is no longer with the company. That message I asked to be forwarded to H.R., so they could investigate the defamation of character issue and the slander. They ignored the Qualcomm message entirely but I took pictures of it with my phone camera and also wrote it verbatim in my notebook...for safe keeping. Now, incidentally my temporary drivers license was due to expire in a few short days and I had sent another message informing Carter Smith that it was time to get me headed west to my home state so that I could convert the temporary before it expired.
The next day we got a load assignment taking the truck further east...farther away. I reminded him that two weeks earlier we had the truck in my home state not far from a DL division and it would be easier then to just have me get the license converted the next morning so that the necessity to wait till the last minute was no longer an issue. I had been getting 'non-dispatch' holds on me going back to Salt Lake City and the Driver's Resource Center, D.O.T. Compliance person, Alison Hill, would call me to her cubicle and remind me that my license would indeed expire soon. I told her that I had had an opportunity to convert it but the company ignored that first chance but at that time we had about a little over a week and a half to get me back, and she said my driver manager on the Q9 fleet, Carter Smith would probably get me back for that. Instead, what Carter Smith did was send the message stating that our next load would take me to Columbus, Ohio...further away. I told him in a Quallcomm message that this was not a game any longer and that the license was just mere days from expiry an that I would be unable to drive my share of the miles in the truck once that happened. He then informed the other driver, a nice guy named W. Sprague, that his instructions were to take me to South Holland and drop me off there. We went to the South Holland C.R. England maintenance yard near the rock quarry there not far from Gary, Indiana, and we waited there for further instructions. Next Sprague gets instructions to take me to Burns Harbor and drop me, as he had been dispatched with the load assignment to go to Eagan, Minnesota. I told Sprague that if I remained on the truck we could do the load assignment together and that if he then dropped me at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport then I could fly home and get my license converted. Instead he simply did as he was told and dropped me in Burns Harbor. I then tried to ascertain at the Burns Harbor School which was now after hours, what was next, but nobody was there to discuss the matter so I caught their shuttle to their flea bag motel called HOMETOWN, which was 'full' and hence had to give me a voucher to stay next door at a dump called Motel 6, which had a dirt floor in the bathroom covered with slats of wood.
So, I could not reach anyone till the next day so I then called D.O.T. compliance and spoke with Shauna Garat and another person in D.O.T. compliance and told them my story. Both of them told me that my plan that I informed them of, of taking a flight out of Midway and going home to Seattle, was a good plan, and to just track my expenses and provide that information to them when I could. So, I caught the C.R. England shuttle van to the regional bus transit terminal in Gary, IN. and caught that bus to Midway Airport At Midway I contacted SW Airlines and they had a seat available on a flight that left in 2 hours, so I then booked the seat, paid with my credit card over the phone, and called C.R. England's Shauna Garat to inform her that I was booked and going to get the license converted. By the way, this was 'thursday' afternoon, and Monday my 'temporary' UTAH CDL A license would be expired. Note: No DMV locations in Washington operate on MONDAY, which was May 12th. In any case I got home, and went to DMV the next morning and got my license converted. Then I sent images of the new license within 4 days to C.R. England's recruiter, Travis Manchester, who recruited me, and my future 'team' driver to forward to the DM or Driver Manager for my new fleet I was being assigned to. In any case, in a couple days I got a phone call telling me that my license had now expired, coming from D.O.T. compliance person Ms. Garat. I informed her that I had converted my license and it did NOT EXPIRE. In any case, in a few short days my new team driver, Robert Richards, picked me up and we proceded to drive for 2 weeks and haul freight.
In the meantime I called my 'new' driver manager and told him that it was imperative that they work out the reimbursal for my rescuing my license. I spoke to Payroll, then to D.O.T. Compliance, Ms. Garat, and around and around and around it went till finally Payroll said; "listen, Carter Smith needs to approve the reimbursal.." She then hung up on me and that was that. I tried contacting Carter Smith and left numerous phone messages on his AUDIX phone system which he never returned. I also asked my new DM if he could do anything but he informed me that he had done all that he could do. Finally, as I had now been on the fleet truck for two weeks I had noted my COMDATA card had not been filled with any pay. And, I contacted the DM and told him; "Look, the company stranded me without a plan in Burns Harbor after Carter Smith lied and said that he dropped me there requiring further training, something I had not heard from any other source, not my co-driver or anyone else. Also he had told Sprague when Sprague dropped me off, that another truck would come to get me. At HOMETOWN the lady at the desk there said; "IF there were a truck dispatched to get you, I'd know about it...and there is NO TRUCK.." In any case, i had the DM on the phone and asked him to get me home. He apologized for what the company had done to me and promised me he would get me there as soon as he could. In the meantime we hauled a couple more loads of freight between Los Angeles and central california, and finally the DM routed us to drop me in Seattle, via a load or two in Pasco, WA.
Once I dismounted the truck, I expected someone from C.R. England to call me but nobody did. I finally got Payroll to get someone e-mailed in H.R. about the defamation issue and the stranding, and told her to make sure that they would contact me. Nobody contacted me. Then, I called and got routed to a DRIVER ADVOCATE person, who promised me that they would investigate the defamation and discrimination complaint I had made way back in my Phase 2 training. When I spoke to that person again she said they were investigating the issue.
Now, after two weeks home, an e-mail comes in from the Driver's Resource Center person Sale Manueleua, informing me that it was time to get me a ticket to get back onto a truck. I told him that the ONLY WAY that I would do this is if they paid me for my travel expenses, and fully investigated the defamation issue and responded in a way that made it clear that those involved in the D.R.C. that day, the incident that Sprague witnessed, was properly addressed by them. And I made it clear that under no circumstances would I be boarding any bus until I was told what the plan was to re-integrate me with the fleet. In about 45 minutes, an e-mail then comes in threatening me with dismissal, by an official I surmised was in H.R., by the name of Jonathan Peto. All my prior e-mails from the gent named Mr. Sale Manuleleua from the DRC, were c.c.'d to a guy named Woodson Witt, whom I presumed was their legal counsel. Mr. Peto's e-mail stipulated that I owed tuition money and if I were terminated that I was responsible to pay that to them. Now be advised as an honorably discharged veteran, the U.S. Government paid them, so they had already received the tuition from the government. And, my requests for all documents signed by me at the school to be 'xeroxed' and given me, which was assured me by their H.R. girl before I left, never were given to me. I had written a signing statement that in effect said I was not in agreement with the cost of the tuition reimbursal, and as I had agreed to drive for them for 6 months which was my intent, I also knew that their physician said he would not re-issue my medical which was only good for 6 months. And that was not conditional...that was not negotiable. I had informed Mr. Peto that it was 'not appropriate' to threaten me with termination under these circumstances, and that their best course of action was to put together a plan to pay me and investigate the defamation issue and advise me what action they took against those involved in the D.R.C. that day.
In any case, it has been two days since the threat of termination. No contact in any way by them so far.
Now, my problem is manifold with C.R. England. First, their contract was an illegal document because I have never ever signed ANY CONTRACT and been summarily refused copies of ALL PAPERS SIGNED BY ME. Yet they refused to give me those. And I was not the only driver that they did this to.
Second, i hauled freight for them as a student, for tens of thousands of miles, and was afforded a shower every fourth or fifth or sixth day out, we drove so hard, so this was a health hazard they imposed by the schedule we drove under. Next, the pay was absolutely below minimum wage per hour of work.
Third, they forced my Phase 2 driver and myself to drive freight without a Bill of Lading on the truck for intrastate transport of a load we had no way to inspect without breaking the seal on the trailer.
Fourth, as they stranded me once, and egregiously harmed my reputation ON PURPOSE, defaming me in the D.R.C. before I went out on Phase 2 with Sprague, they at least owed me an honest and sincere apology for Carter Smith's stranding me perhaps in direct retaliation for reporting the defamation issue ot him and the rest of C.R. England management on the Qualcomm terminal on the day after Sprague confided in me how badly and terribly I had been disparaged in the D.R.C. when I wasn't there to defend myself.
Fifth and last point, they owe me for the costs incurred to rescue my license. I paid that out of my own pocket, and I was assured by both D.O.T. compliance personnel, as well as Sale Manuleleua, that I would be paid in full, for the travel home to rescue the expiring license. Mr. Manuleleua advised me that I would have to get back on a truck and fill out an 'A/R' to be reimbursed, and I told him that 'no' this was not acceptable, that they could pay me either by check or deposit on my COMDATA payroll card. That was what prompted the 'firing' threat by Mr. Peto...which was not under any circumstances even close to acceptable.
In summary, this is a long story, but as an honorably discharged military veteran who held high level security clearances and had nuclear weapons duties in the miltary, that it was not appropriate to besmirch my reputation and defame me gratuitously for my prior work I had done before joining the company. I was always polite and congenial, but made it a point to truthfully and honestly fill out the DRIVER SURVEYS which are not anonymous but linked to your S.S. number. I never ever held back valid criticism of the shortcomings of their training, and the hazardous conditions precipitated by instructors who demanded action on the highway, in their trucks, which would have involved at the least, serious bodily injury or 'death' of other motorists and perhaps others in the truck with us at the time, as often other students would be onboard. The living conditions at their Salt Lake City school if you would call it that, were nothing less than despicable, and I never ever in the U.S., before being stranded in Burns Harbor, ever stayed the night in a U.S. motel with a dirt floor in the bathroom. That was pretty damned pathetic.
All in all, if the U.S. Federal Government paid for my tuition as I believe they have, they should ask for full reimbursal, and ask the company to ask their physician why he issued me a six month medical with no intent to renew that, based on a medical condition that still allowed me to drive freight for tens of thousands of miles, for months at a time, under duress of schedule and with showers every 4 or 5 or maybe 6 days apart. My 'team' driver, Robert Richards, was paid, as I was, a mere '11 cents' per mile while I was on the truck, and his regular pay was 29 cents a mile, which mean that he was losing money driving 'team' with me on the truck.
This is not truck driving, this is indentured enslaved servitude to a fly by night, disrespectful of honorably discharged veteran's, company that is more a 'puppy mill' than a trucking firm. A firm that makes up the rules as it goes, and gives the drivers absolutely not one voice. Not one voice, when they are egregiously harmed and defamed and stranded by them.
Look starting out wasnt bad. but i got the shaft. first off horizon truck sales an lease trun around an let female start my llc then trun around leased a truck under me with out permission then equniox tax people miss lead info an didnt put the right informtion in for taxes. then took money out my account on put the truck in shop pm then it came out not running an they blamed me an still took money out of my account for what they fuck up on truck. then got under load at va an now got put in jail on false charges. then took all my private stuff what i had in the truck its all gone because they stoled it all cant find where it went. so dont go an nother thing read there contracts well because if dont an u become a trainer for them they will take money out to pay for there students while there on the truck.
Texas Workforce Commission, Joe Warren April 5,2011
I must have sent in almost 25 pages on C.R.England and how they only care about the freight and not the employee. not paying, me! for the miles, I had driven, accross country. landing me, into a Homelss, shealter because of money not being into my account when dispatch told me? all of your pay, is into your account I was their 2weeks. I stated on request for all my belongings. I call myself going beyound my call, with this company, and here is why. [without Myself ]- A-New co-driver! pick's up!, my truck, up from the, repair shop, with everything I owned. for months. traveling around in, a some what 2010 new looking truck, that I drove, and later broke, down. stuck in a hotel my dispatch called me, Next day! and said! go for one day, and pick up another truck, in another state. taking the grayhound bus, with very little cloths the rest of my cloths where within the truck left behind in the repair shop. so I am, headed to pick up and drop off. and deliver product Goods, okay1 as long as I can get back in time to receive My truck, and belongings. dispatch not a problem, I will have the driver drop the cloths etc. off to you. 3month later and Nothing but promising. their is so, much to this. the out come TWF claim they could find nothing wrong. and that the company does not owe me pay. in 2012 3 or 4 month of the year. NOW IN 2014 INTERAL ADUIT PAYMENT RECEIVED. I received my last check, nothing about money for over 5,000.00 in cloths suite coats, shoes, Men dress Slacks, truck navigator, and more. I stated my wife was ill, and in the hospital-keep on driving, we will get you home, to your wife, in little LA. THIS IS WRONG! I COULD NOT AFFORD TO SUE THIS COMPANY! THEIF REPORT'S i NEED TO COME TO UATH. sorry! for misspelled or not to clear to understanding, just say! no to foolishness, from trucking co.
Texas Workforce commission, U.S. equal Employment opportunity Commission
where is my help! from you..was it just, wasted time. or in the, bed with client.