Comments By Eric S.

I humbly disagree with that assessment. There has to be some defense for drivers out here in this industry. I cannot see an arm above my tractor while backing up because my attention is on my backing and not the person who’s only job it is all day is to lower and raise an arm. You are right I’m going to have to end up owning this if I want a chance with anyone else even the companies that aren’t very good. Some things are apart of the job and others are just companies wanting to but blame on the easiest person it is to blame in this kind of situation. The driver. I really love driving it’s been in my family for a long time and I’m just trying to make my way out here.

Fired from England for two accidents

They terminated my lease with them

Welcome to our forum Eric!

If you were leasing a truck from them you were not actually an employee. A lawyer can't help you with being wrongfully terminated when you were an independent contractor. I think your best bet is to make a payment arrangement with them and pay what you agreed to. You can't go blaming them for wrongful termination. You are the man at the wheel. You had two backing accidents. That's all on you.

I know you "told the gate guard at the loredo yard not to lower the fence." Honestly, it doesn't matter what you told them. You drove the truck. That has got to be your biggest take away from all this. You have to take responsibility for your actions. We own our mistakes, that's what keeps us in the game. I have made a lot of mistakes driving a rig, but I always accepted my responsibility and learned something from every screw up. Hopefully somebody will take you on. We don't know how long you were at England, but it sounds as if it were less than one year. That's going to be a problem.

You will just have to be honest and up front on all your applications. It won't hurt to be humble too. Accept full responsibility for what took place. Anybody that hears you blaming C.R. England is not going to touch you. If the right people hear you accepting full responsibility, and showing a clear understanding of how you can avoid these type accidents in the future, then you might have a chance of getting hired. But if what you say sounds like what you said here in our forum - you won't have a chance.

I’ll gladly accept full blame for the pole as I shouldn’t have gotten myself in that situation to begin with. However a gate being lowered and me asking for it not to be lowered shouldn’t be a fire him on the spot incident. I was back in the Laredo to do my reset as I only had about 10-14 hours left on my 70 hour clock and they had no loads for me to get done in that timeframe so I was directed to drop trailers around the area. But that’s besides the point though and thank you for saying that about England.

Sorry I think I made some errors in this post. I was not leasing through them I was a rookie coming on with them. The part you said about the schooling was correct. And they had me watch some videos about backing for the pole. But the second one with the controlled arm I believe was not a situation I was at fault for. If you tell someone not to lower the gate so you can back up and they do it anyways as your backing up who’s at fault there?. Keep in mind I didn’t BACK into it. It was lowered across my tractor top as I was backing up and the worst that it got was some scratched paint. No damage to the truck at all.

Went down the wrong road and ended up in a situation we’re I could either back out into the street blindly or get myself turned the longways and turn back out into the street hence the pole. On that one yes I could of used goal better no doubt. But telling a person who’s job it is to handle a lower and raised arm fence not to lower it seems a little out of the drivers hands.

It is your responsibility to always look behind you when backing and GOAL. How did you back into a pole?

CFI might give you a shot if you are honest about what happened up front.

You should expect to go through some training. It seems you would greatly benefit from some.

Good luck.

The contract was for my schooling which with England it works like this. If I stay with them for a year then I don’t need to pay them back for my tuition. They terminated my lease with them when they put me down as disqualified to drive with them. I was told I could go somewhere else but the first place I applied(CFI). Won’t take me because these incidents were handled in house but England is reporting it on driver fax

Fired from England for two accidents one I couldn’t prevent. One I backed into a pole that cut power to a plant. The second one I told the gate guard at the loredo yard not to lower the fence because I needed to back up a little bit so I could fuel my reefer tank. The person lowered it anyways and long story short I get a call from my safety manager saying I’ve been disqualified for those two accidents. I was told they would not be put on my record because there incidents with the company. But when another company called today to verify employment all of that was put out there and now I’m having a hard time getting another driving job. Does anyone know what I can do or is there anything I can do with England?. I was told to get a lawyer because the second action is fightable and I do believe I was wrongfully terminated. Failing that would it be a good idea to look for a local trucking job or one that doesn’t look at your driver fax just your mvr.