just got fired

Why didn't you just come out and say the real reason you drove all those miles out of route is that you headed to the house not cause you needed to get to the terminal for safe parking. Not to mention. 140 miles outs route cost you valuable hours.

 

say my man was just trying to get to the house.

 

My gut tells me if he asked they may have arranged it. I noticed in profile he lives in cartersville.

 

There were a number of places where he could have parked on the way. There are two small truck stops at the Wildwood exit on I-24. It is on the TN/GA state line. There is another truck stop in Ringgold, GA and that is probably no more than 20 miles from Chickamauga, GA. There were a number of options that would not have taken the op out of route or at least not much out of route. There was no reason for him to have driven that many miles out of route to get to a "safe haven." I also agree that there is probably more to the story than what was posted. Most companies will not terminate a driver for a single infraction of their policies.

 

As much as y'all like to bash the bottom feeders, the bottom feeder I drive for could care less if you drive 500 miles out of route. You don't need the companies permission to leave the shipper or reciever to locate a safe parking haven.

Y'all need to do some homework before signing a employment deal with a company. Don't waste your time driving for a company that makes their own FMCSR's, because stuff like this will happen.

 

You probably should read all the posys before making off handed comments about another company that you obviously have no knowledge of. This issue had nothing to do with safety. The factors were communication or rather lack thereof and not doing your job properly. I cannot see how this situation would end differently for any company or any profession. Termination should be expected. Seems like an expected result from my perspective.

 

I just came across this thread and read through the whole thing. Now first off, I'm a wannabe doing research on companies so I have no formal training in anything related to trucking, but here's what I would have done:
OP said he picked up the load and knew then that he wouldn't make it right? If that was me, as soon as I knew that, I would have pulled out the route they gave me and a truck stop guide. Then, I would make a list of the three closest truck stops to my destination. At that point, I'd call dispatch, let them know I couldn't make the drop off on time and explain to them that I have a list of the three closest truck stops along the route and that I would first stop at the one farthest away from my destination for the night. If no parking, I'd move on to the second closest stop. If no parking then I'd go to the third. If I got the ok, then whenever I stopped, I'd call dispatch again to let them know where I was. If I'm wrong here, then please let me know, but I think that's the best way to cover your own behind. And as a side note, I already plan on getting myself a tape recorder and recording every convo I have with anyone from my company just in case they try anything funny. Maybe a good idea?

 

As has said the driver is on a dedicated route, He communicated that he could not make the delivery time, was told to deliver in morning. At that time driver should have been looking for place to park in route to delivery. Not drove to delivery point then leave again for safe haven. I'm sure there are other circumstances that lead to his ultimate firing but he screwed the pooch when he decided to continue to consignee then leave again. Hope that shower/hometime was worth it. Sorry CharChar!

 

Happens to the best of us. Find a new company to roll with, and keep on trucking.

 

Two posts here are dead on!!! Just sayin'