Double Yellow's Company Driver to Independent Thread

Good news: I have 3 inspections as a carrier so now Con-Way & the like can use me.

Bad news: Caught the Moorhead, MN scalemaster on a bad day and he put me out of service for log falsification.

What?!

The walk-around went well (though no stickers given), but his demeanor changed when he went over my logs and asked for my toll, scale, & fuel receipts. There were no toll roads, I haven't hauled anything over 15,000 lbs in the last week, & I get electronic fuel receipts from fleet one.

Instantly he went from friendly smiling monitor of highway safety to a warden tossing a cell. "Open that clipboard!" -- a couple pens and a notebook. "Grrrr -- let me see your license!" -- I open my wallet and pull it out. "Ah hah!" he shouts spotting a wadded up cat scale ticket behind my cash -- "let me see that scale receipt!" So I hand it to him and he frowns. I'm not sure which displeased him more, the fact my weights were legal or the fact it was from April...

"Wait here," he says, and goes inside with my logs and bills. 20 minutes later he comes out with a violation -- smiling because he just knew I was up to no good with my lack of receipts. "This BOL was printed at 1230 but you weren't there until 330! " I look it over and shrug. So? "Well obviously you were there at 1230!"

I was there at 330 and I'm not liking where this is heading so I take a closer look. This load has 2 stops, & 2 BOLs. One does indeed have a 1230 05/26 timestamp. The other is timestamped from 05/18. They were printed before I arrived. They don't even list me as the carrier -- a legitimate violation to which he is blind, because he is so convinced I'm a log cheat (The absurdity is I had 35 hours remaining on my 70 and 1200 miles to go in over 2 days).

I point out the other BOL print date and told him I certainly didn't sit in a dock for 9 days, so he says "Fine, I'll call them," -- and gets out his phone, eyes me giving him the "please do" look, and then he walks back to his office so I can't overhear.

He comes back a few minutes later saying "they just confirmed they printed this at 1230." Yeah, we knew that, but did they tell you I was there at 1230? ... silence.

"Well I'm still writing you up for today." What for? "You started driving at 930 and you crossed my scale at 9:47 and I know it is 30 miles from here to there."

'Well,' I explain, 'I left at 925 and I wasn't in the city center, I was at the truckstop at the very edge of town.' I pull out my phone, load google maps, put 1 pin at the truckstop and 1 pin at the scale and calculate. 21 miles, 18 minutes it says.

"I know it takes 30 minutes!" he fumes. I ask if I may speak to someone else and he says "No! If you want to dispute it, there's a message on the bottom of the form" and he hands me my dirty inspection report.

2 violations: falsification of drivers record of duty & logs not current. 'What is this about logs not being current?' I ask. He smiles venomously. "You failed to change your status from driving to on duty when I began my inspection." I blink in disbelief. He had climbed up on my steps --while I was still on the scale-- and asked for my logbook (back when he was still friendly highway monitor). I was behind the wheel with released brakes!

I am always quick to defend officers on TTR -- they do a thankless job. And many in my family are in law enforcement. I've had 6 inspections and dealt with a number of officers on other occasions, and all have been honest and fair. Until now. I guess 1 out of 20 or so isn't bad -- certainly better than the ratio of ####### truckers. But now I was pissed.

I was ready to go to court. EASY case. Slam dunk. Then I look around for the court date... There isn't one. No fine either. That's strange? I read the fine print -- disputes must be made through the FMCSA dataQ system. Hmm, I've heard nothing but bad things about DataQ, but I'll see for myself.

There is an online form and a field to explain why you want a review. I make my case. Well-written and impeccably reasoned, I framed it as an honest mistake by the officer (instead of lambasting him for the Barney Fife that he is). I attach photos of the BOLs, my logs, and a screenshot from google maps showing 18 minutes -- not 30. I click submit.

I spent over an hour writing & editing and taking photos of my paperwork and uploading, but I had taken too long and the fmcsa logged me out. Now I'm the one GRRRRRing. I write it up again, even better this time, and save a copy before I submit... Timed out again, but now -- on my 3rd attempt -- I can copy and paste.

I do, it accepts, but as if to prevent me even that small victory, it removes all formatting from my appeal. 15 spaced & logically arranged paragraphs become one giant wall of text. I know I wouldn't want to read that, but let's hope the person who reviews it understands.

Then I get an email confirmation. I read it in disbelief. My case has been assigned to.... drumroll please... the Minnesota Highway Patrol.

Really FMCSA?!

I am appealing my case, one which can affect whether certain customers will use me and what I will pay for insurance, to the agency from which I seek an appeal?

What the ####?!

You don't let Mayberry PD investigate when a Mayberry officer screws up. You call in the sheriff, or the staties, or even the fbi because you know about the blue wall of silence and you want to at least give the appearance of objectivity. Unreal.

So I am not optimistic about my chances on appeal. And this horrendously flawed appeal is final. There is no one farther up the ladder...

Worst of all, I had just started my day after a refreshing 10 hour break. Now I get to sit around trying to sleep for another 10 hours before racing off to make my Friday morning appointment 1200 miles away. Not only will this supposed 15 minute violation create driver fatigue where there was none, I can now kiss Goodbye to my 30-day 9+mpg average. And I won't have time to go around the toll roads. GRRRRRRR

With a reefer sure. I wouldn't load wet trees on ice into a wood-floored dry van I cared about...