ok got a insecure load ticket

Would you really break a seal knowing that it could be rejected by the consignee because you broke the seal?

 

Actually, if I was at a terminal with a terminal manager on site and having read a manifest that read "18 totes .. 45k lbs"? Yes, I would have to contact the accepting driver to ask if there are boards nailed down or get permission to inspect the load. 18 pallets and 45k on 18 units (slippery totes filled with sloshing liquid, no less) can only be loaded one of 2 ways and either way is (should be) of GREAT concern to the driver.

 

I agree completely, at the least a phone call should have been made, and someone woke up, to find this out, and as someone posted earlier, why did it take a police officer to pull you over to discover this?? Many questions that should have been answered before all this, hindsight is twenty twenty, and the bigger mistakes that a guy makes are the ones he never forgets.

 

Why fight the ticket? You're WRONG. If your trailer was leaning that bad to be NOTICED and PULLED OVER, you should have stopped and corrected it. Your lucky your trailer didn't roll over on a curve and crush some innocent people in their car. By law per FMCSR, you're required to stop and inspect your load after a certain number of miles. Although not practical, if you're trailer was leaning that is a PERFECT reason to stop, call your company and report the load shifted.

Drivers making stupid choices. "They will fire me if I don't drive it!" "It's already sealed I can't break it." "The mechanic says its ok, even though 1/32nds is illegal. I know it wrongs, but he says its ok." You're going to lose, why bother wasting your money?

 

That the company in Decatur that begins with M?

 

I've hauled lots of food grade loads. If at the original shipper then break the seal before leaving the shippers yard to inspect the load. As always, you should know your companies policy towards this before hooking to the load.

 

That is the problem sometimes with drop and hooks. We picked up a trailer at the yard in TX for USX a few years ago, went to the TS to fuel and the trailer was leaking a fluid. It was a clorox load so you know it could have anything from kitty litter to bleach and cleaning products stuck in it. Took it back to the yard and got out from under it, husband did not want to be responsible if it leaked on a car or on someone even.

He has had a beer load from Anheiser reloaded twice where it wasn't loaded right. A lot of loads though you just hope on.


But someone should be really whacking on this company for not having the load secured before the trailer was sealed. This is where so many loads end up damaged. The clorox loads are the worst I have seen with things stacked with heavy on top of smashables, not very brainy if you ask me, they are probably hiring low paying people to do the job with no training.

Did you see the post the other day where the guy lost his trailer of 270 in Columbus, OH. It was because of shifting weight. He was really lucky no one was killed.

Here's the link to the story if you can copy and paste it I think.


http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2012/08/24/columbus-semi-falls-over-bridge-west-side.html

 

Did they do a DOT inspection after he pulled you over? What you don't want is for this to come back and bite you later, it would do this through the PSP report, or perhaps DAT, and as I stated earlier, who is going to pay the fine? This is what you will want to discuss with your attorney. What it boils down to is with the new CSA mess, you are pretty much illegal just being a driver.. But that said, it is behind now, you can't change it, you need to somehow get a print out of the Qualcom records to prove that you followed directions, so that you can have your record remain clean from this. Have you hauled this material before? Have you hauled totes before? It might be that if the attorney goes to trial with this, the judge may order your record to not reflect this, but the ticket will stand because it was a safety hazard. Just make sure your attorney understands that for a load of food to have the seal tampered with renders the load not receivable to the consignee. And on a side note, I would be shocked if the company will be of any help to you in his, it might be that they will want to push responsibility on you and fight against you in court. Good luck, I hope you can get this worked out for the best, let us know, so that we can help the next man that this happens to.

 

Don't pull the load if you are not allowed to inspect it, that is BS, the driver can be trusted to pull the load, but not inspect the load?