Truck and trailer theft are major problems in our industry, but they can be even bigger problems when the driver is stolen along with his rig! A driver had pulled into a hotel parking lot early in the morning on Monday the 10th and was checking his load in the trailer when all of a sudden his rig started to move.
The driver called the police on his cell phone, but was having trouble helping them find him since he could not see where the thieves were taking his vehicle. Eventually the thieves realized that they had inadvertently brought a passenger along for the ride, pulled over, and fled the scene.
Shortly after, the driver was able to climb out and give police a description of his location. They were able to find him a couple of minutes later. The driver was a little shaken by the experience, but unharmed. By the time the police arrived however, the thieves were long gone.
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Source: metronews
Image Credit: AP
This sounds too much like a drivers fabrication to bring him 15 minutes of fame. Anyway drivers are not allowed to poke around loaded trailers. Just sounds too fishy to me!
I AGREE sounds Like a FISH story to me too HOW DID the theives know he was back there and where did the thieves take off too yea THIS IS A LOAD ALRIGHT !
Speak for yourself… I’m frequently required to climb inside loaded trailers, specifically produce loads, to pulp the product and ensure load security.
Drivers are not allowed to poke around in loaded trailers?? Really?? I did it all the time with an unsealed loads when I pulled van. And just the other day I was helping my boyfriend in his trailer making sure what he was hauling hadn’t shifted around. It had, so we had to reposition the straps to prevent further movement. Also, if the driver didn’t realize that the rig was being stolen until it started moving that means the thieves didn’t bother to check and see if the trailer doors were closed. A door swinging outward while they were taking it down the road would have been a good indicator that someone was back there. This story could have very well happened as stated.
Drivers are supposed to check their loads every two hours while in transit. They make sure sucurement devices are in tact and load hasn’t shifted and they check the truck and trailer for signs of problems. This is part of a drivers job. Whenever you see a driver parked along the emergency lane or along a roadside, he or she is doing exactly what the DOT requires them to do.
KM You DON”T PARK A RIG IN THE EMERGENCY LANE ULESS IT’S AN EMERGENCY PERIOD ! THAT’S A GREAT WAY TO GET KILLED OR BE THE CAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT ALWAYS PULLOFF NEVER STOP ON A FREEWAY UNLESS YOUR BROKE DOWN and You CAN AN WILL GET CITED FOR THAT ! and load /safety checking is as states in the handbook every three hour or 150 miles which ever comes first an tire checks every 100 miles with an air gauge.
I agree with calambert. I drove truck for over 30 years (retired), and would always “school” a new co-driver of mine that it was NOT acceptable to stop on the shoulder of any highway or road, except for an emergency. Having to pee “really bad” is not an emergency. There were too many incidences to count, where I would pass a big rig parked on the shoulder with the driver out of the truck “wetting the wheel”, and a quarter mile further there would be an exit ramp. Is it too much effort to pull off the highway?
Theft has become a big issue since the economy slowed. We had to hire security guards on the yard at night, put in cameras and eventually electronic gates operated by 24 hr. Dispatch.. Thieves would drive up in bobtails and hook to company trailers. They had taken two in one month! Several stolen loads around town later, police finally caught them, but not before 3 or 4 million dollars in lost cargo had been taken. Nice thing is these thieves won’t be stealing cargo again for a very long time. I’ll be a great-great grandmother before they get out of jail.
what ever company this chelsey chick works 4 needs to fire her and quick. just look at her postings and you can see she has no understanding of any of the dot rules. she says the new (hos) rules are wrong?? I think anne ferraro would know better then she does. then she says something completely stupid like (drivers r not allowed to poke around there loaded trailors)??? she is a big accident just waiting to happen. for all u educated drivers out there. stay safe as it aint worth a life.
KM: How can a driver check insdie his trailer when most loads are sealed? Also, where does the article say these thieves were caught, I must have missed that.
This driver may well have been in his trailer, but the majority of loads I ever hauled in a box-van were hauled with a seal that meant my job if I didn’t have a real good (ie: DOT cut it for inspection) reason for it being unsealed.
50% or more of my loads go unsealed!
WELL A 100% OF MINE ARE SEALED AND LOCKED WITH TWO LOCKS !
I’ll admit I didn’t drive over the road long but when I did, we had to seal the trailers to ensure nothing got tampered with while en route. Flat bed we had to check or loads every couple hours. I’m not t trying to down play the severity of the problem, but I agree with Chesley something sounds fishy. If he was in the trailer checking his load then did he break the seal to do so?
All loads are not seal,maybe he was up in his trailer,cause something coming loose .could have been for any thing.don,t say something about someone till you walk in their shoes.
Hold on a second. When he was inside, trailer doors must have been open (since he couldn’t lock them from inside). In this case truck had to be moving with open doors. If thieves locked him, then I doubt he could get out of on his own. Something isn’t right…
Yeah, we’re not getting the full story on this one…
Let’s think about this, how did the thiefs get the rig sttarted? How did they get in the tractor in the first place? I’m a driver have been for many years, I ALWAYS LOCK, my tractor door, take the keys even if I’m only checking the tires, safety first people.
My habits are always carry a spare key cause I never remove the ignition key, so I lock the doors and leave it running, must be from my old school of thought? Oh also a sealed trailer I could replace the seal on multiple stops and I carried extras. And our trailers had roll up doors and cannot be seen from the cab.
I presume the thieves were driving around with the trailer doors open; that’s how they figured out they probably had an extra passenger on-board.
I see there are a lot of super truckers making comments, I hate when drivers act as if they never made a mistake I have drove for a company that ever trailer was never sealed just locked that I had put on and had the key, also I have drove for a company that gave seals if the shipper didn’t supply on and if I heard the load shift then had to call to get permission to break shipper never knew because they didn’t provide a seal. A lot of O/O make their own decisions to break the seals because they are customer service and if the load shifts they don’t have the money to pay someone to fix the load so they do it, don’t always be quick to say something is fishy because a driver does something that your company doesn’t allow you to do.
If the story is true then the trailer doors had too be open, in which case he would be able to see where he was at or had just passed. As for sealed trailers I have pulled a lot of unsealed trailers in my 32 years of driving. The story makes no sense to me.
As for KM she must be talking about a steel hauler, or machinery I have pulled both. That you need to keep tabs on until the load has settled. All depending what your hauling you make be tightening straps or chains continuously.
if the picture is of the trailer that been stolen, then an unsealed trailer makes sense. Rush hauls mostly car parts into a plant and empty racks out. only the inbound trailers are sealed.
I clicked on the Metronews link and saw it was in Kamloops, B.C.
Chesley, you must be new to this job to have made that comment. Drivers are not allowed to open a sealed trailer but in many cases such as produce loads a driver is required to check their load during transit. Plus also, even on non sealed loads it is a good idea to every once in a while to check your load to make sure the product isn’t shifting or that the load locks have not fallen.
Ted you must be the new driver. It’s a federal offense to cut seals off a loaded trailer. In our company if you do cut a seal you will be fired. Every load and type of load is different. We don’t use load bares but load straps. You really are uneducated aren’t you. Well I guess we all started out as a student driver, maybe when you get a few years under your belt!
I work for a mainstream company and most of our loads are LTL, Local. We carry a batch of seals with us, so we can cut the seal, deliver that order, or two, but then put on a seal when a customer requires it. It is hard to have a sealed load when you are delivering to multiple accounts from one load.