I drove for C.R. England from September to December of 2008. I went through the CDL training program at Burns Harbor, IN. When I arrived, the city was being flooded due to heavy rains in the area. I went to the hotel to and there was a line for people who were checking in to go through the training program. I went to the school and checked-in like I was supposed to. I passed all of my things (Physical and Drug Screen).

When I get back to the hotel, the manager at the Hometown Lodge (note: these ladies at the front desk do not have a sense of humor and they are very rude) tells everyone that they need to leave their luggage at the hotel in room 108 (note: if this room floods, your luggage is ruined due to the room is located on the first floor).

I was thinking, you have a the gall to tell me to leave my luggage after being on a bus all night....kiss my butt because I am not going to do it. I ended up taking my luggage with me because if I could not get a hotel room, I was going to get a bus ticket back home the next day. About 11 that night, they stuck about 60 of us at an emergency shelter in Gary, IN. At this point, I have been up for close to 36 hours without no sleep. About 1 that morning, they came and got us and sent us to a local Motel 6 and we had to room up two to each room.

I finally got to bed about 2:30 that morning and got only 3 hours of sleep that night. We all loaded up and went to the school at Burns Harbor that morning. They went through all the necessary things to tell us that we had to sign a $3000 loan plus another $300 for financing. The lunch and supper money is joke. You had to pay for all of your own food for lunch and supper and the shuttle does not go to Wal-Mart in Burns Harbor. The only place that you could go and get things cheap was the Target in Hammond. The only good thing is that you about a mile from the nearest restauraunt unless you wanted to go three doors down to the Best Western but be forewarned that the buffet will cost at $10 plus drink. I made it through my training those two weeks and was placed with a trainer the same day I got my CDL hard copy. I had no problem with my phase I trainer. He taught me things about his experiences that he had while he was trucking. I had little to no problems with the phase I trainer.

When I got back to Burns Harbor to do my phase I upgrade, the instructor (which his name is Bill.....this guy has no humor as well) was very rude because I got back to the yard around midnight that night and I was told I was not suppose to be there. To make a long story short, I ended up spending the entire day at the school because the secretaries would arrange a shuttle not take me back to the hotel to check-in so I had to wait until the end of the day to ride the bus back to the hotel. I got my upgrade done and was off to do Phase II.

When I started Phase II, that's when things started to go wrong. The first trainer decided to quit the company because he being cheated by the company. He decides to dump me at a hotel in Mira Loma, CA, which is outside of Los Angeles.
During that time, the area was going through the wildfires. I was doing my check-ins and that is were I ran into one of my classmates who was with me in Burns Harbor. He had been in Mira Loma about a week doing his upgrade.

I finally got bussed back to Salt Lake City and was there about a day before I was place with another trainer. Needless to say, this guy was not any better (the second guy's name was Kevin). I was forced to drive nights while this guy drove days. According to training regulations, trainers are to drive nights while trainees drove during the day.

Apparently, this guy did not follow the rules.

During the last two weeks on the truck, I noticed that several of my personal things were missing and I had a feeling that he threw them away while I was either in the shower at a truck stop or put the items with his things and threw them away while he took his shower. I did not know at the time that he had serious log violations and I did not know this until I read a qualcomm message that he was at level 3. At level 3, you are supposed to call logs and arrange to come to Salt Lake City to take a log class to get your viloations cleared up.

Apparently, this guy did not do this.

It was not until we got back to Salt Lake City that there was a stop dispatch message waiting for him. I was lucky enough to have had my days in. Needless to say, the guy was fired because of his logs. I did my final upgrade in Salt Lake City and was on my way home the following day.

When I got home, I checked my ComData Card to see if my pay had gone through. Apparently, it had not. I checked it the next day and it was not there. It was right there I decided to quit the company and turn my fuel cards and paperwork into Salt Lake City.

Needless to say, I wasted four months of my life to a company that mistreats the drivers and potential drivers that want to drive for them.

In short....Do Not Drive for England because it will ruin your life as well as your DAC report.

Great story but painful to read. Could you break that up into some paragraphs ? There is a edit button down on the bottom of your post, click that and break it up some.

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Did you get on the horn to CRE and find out about the pay?

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You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there. - Yogi Berra

LOL and they didnt call you back in 2-3 weeks to tell you it was a terrble misunderstanding?

Sounds as if you did alright with your phase 1 trainer. Alas I think you were expecting too much to get a ride to the motel. The company doesnt do cab rides either way of the school to the hotel. I think its comical that the hotel flooded. Maybe to help clean up the lobby? Yup a sense of humor would go along way with that company.

Yes the trainers ignore the part about trainees are not supposed to drive at night. The only argument I ever found that worked was to split the night. Have the trainer drive into it or out of the night. Take his pick? Usually I had the morning shift, of which is fine with me. 3 am-3pm.

I did hit my 70 once on the road with Roy. It was nice to get a full day off. Spent most of it sleeping in a snow storm going through Kansas.

I too have stuff that is unacountable. I suppose its a right of passage. I suppose its also the reason they tell you to only bring enough for you to live on.

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Looking for work, LOL
Building a 2.5" scale Stainz
Building a freelance Ford railcar 7.25guage

After putting in the 4 months training n all the "fun" that goes with it,.......
Seems maybe (hopefully) the worse was behind you, so to quit at that point without even inquiring about the pay problem seems wack to me.
thats just my 2 cents tho, and about what its worth...

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You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there. - Yogi Berra

Thats exactly what I was thinking!

You had allready put up with all the training BS and was about to
get your own truck. The reasonable thing to have done would have
been to contact them and see what was going on with your pay.

Believe me in no way am I taking up for CRE, after all the bad things
I have heard about them there is no way I would ever work there.

Just saying!

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"Léssez le bon ton roullé!"

To actually think of it, England does have a policy that discourages anyone from driving from Midnight to 6 a.m. because during those hours when drivers tend to have the highest risk for accidents.

I was lucky that I did not have an accident b/c of the hours of night.

The reality is, if you get a load that requires you to go. If you cant do that overnight time, you shouldnt be driving.

Most of the loads I was running with Western Express had you leave the shipper 130am with a delivery by 10am.

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Looking for work, LOL
Building a 2.5" scale Stainz
Building a freelance Ford railcar 7.25guage

Phase 1 students can not drive between 1am & 4am.
Phase 2 there is no restriction because at that point you are a qualified solo driver.
Yes it's discouraged to drive between12am & 6am but as a team not pratical.
If a phase 1 trainer wants a student to drive between 1 & 4 he has to clear it with safety first. Sometimes a load will require driving those hrs not to be late, but good trip planning and it will be avoided.

From a CRE phase 1 trainer.

[quote=SLCTrucker;929058]Phase 1 students can not drive between 1am & 4am.
Phase 2 there is no restriction because at that point you are a qualified solo driver.[/qoute]

If the student is now a "qualified solo driver" why is the student still a "student" and on a trainers truck. If he/she is still in training, then they aren't qualified to be a solo driver yet!

Students should not be "team" driving, they should be being taught about the everyday life of this industry. Safety first, revenue second...like the companies are going to follow that line of BS!

Get out of the shipper at say, 2300 hrs, delivery appointment is 1000hrs, 550 miles away...how do you trip plan to avoid the hours of 0001 - 0600 and run the 550 miles? You get your dispatch at 1900 hrs east coast time..safety is still there to give you authority to run night shift? I don't think so..safety works bankers hours at CRE...I know...been there!

Don't you mean a Level 3 recruiter, aka BS'er? The next level, after the recruiter to get them in the door, (level 1) orientation hype (level 2) and the "Phase 1" trainer (level 3)

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When every boat has sailed away,
And every path is marked and paid,
When every road has had it's say,
Then I'll be bringing me back home to stay.
When every town looks just the same,
And every choice gets hard to make,
When every map is put away,
Then I'll be bringing me back home to stay.
Reach out to me,
Call out my name,
And I will bring you back again today.