Hi, this is my first post and I'm reaching out because I'm in a bit of a bind.

I work for a fairly well known multinational trucking company and my DC. is not paying to upkeep the vehicles like they should.

We are low on tractors, and whatever you are assigned is usually the only truck left, assuming you don't have to wait for another to get back before you can leave.

So writing up a truck is a big no no if a mechanic isn't there to sign off on it, but I had a truck that had a pretty bad leak, about 30 PSI loss per minute with brakes enganged, and it would leak out to almost nothing in about 25 minutes of sitting.

It's been leaking for over a year, but it was getting so bad I had to write it up with a lot of grumbling from my supervisors, it was signed off eventually by a mechanic with no repairs done.

a little over a week later I had the same truck and I had no choice but to take it, because no else complained about the truck, and there wasn't anything else to take... So I was leaving my 3 Rd stop, I get in the truck and wait a couple minutes for it to air up untill the cab lifts off the frame, then I go.

Well this stop had a incline to get out of the parking lot, and as I turned to go up it the suspension air bag collapsed and slammed the trailer down onto the tire and ripped off a chunk of aluminium off the trailer apron that slashed two tractor tires.

They had me fill out a accident report, then they charged me as a preventable accident, I fought it, but they are still charging me saying that "I knew of the problem and I took the tractor anyways"

And if that wasn't a slap in the face, that same tractor was assigned to me the next day, still unfixed.

I don't know what to do, I contested it, but the office always votes against the drivers, and the mechanics say it's not their fault, and couldn't see how a air leak could of caused that damage...

I was going to quit, but it's a job that fits my life schedule, I just want to do my job without being harassed, or setup to fail.
I'm not a problem maker, if they need me to do extra work I'm always willing to help out, and I believe I have a pretty good attitude.

There is a union, but they don't seem to have much influence in this matter.

What options do I have once I exhaust all "in house" options, it seems the FMCSA, and OSHA seem to cater more towards the company, but I never directly worked with them before.
They say the company can come after me, but they are anyways, I just want to defend myself.

 

you say the job fits YOUR schedule?

perhaps you need to CHANGE your schedule.

other than that, you can try and report this truck to the local DOT office, maybe the state police in your state are also DOT cops. if you drive into a scale house, you can report it there, tell them, "hey i write up this truck, but they don't fix it", but then be VERY prepared for them to GIVE YOU a ticket. they will tell you that you should have REFUSED to drive it.

in the end, it all comes down to..."get another job"


good luck.

 

"They had me fill out a accident report, then they charged me as a preventable accident, I fought it, but they are still charging me saying that "I knew of the problem and I took the tractor anyways"
The truth hurts! But you know what's going to hurt worse? The fines your going to have to pay when you get caught driving that piece of crap or worse get into an accident and kill someone!
It's just a freakin job, you were looking for one when you found that one so look for another. Don't wait, you already have an accident on your record now so that makes you 'damaged goods' add some tickets and your done.