Probably going to be seeing more of this

My wife forwarded me an ajc article that was taken from this FMCSA OOS order. Be sure to read the actual order, which is linked within the article.

I'm not defending this carrier, nor do I even know anything more than I've read online. But something stinks.

Here's the setup. Seems like a local operation running straight trucks. Usually the type that fly under the radar unless there's some sort of fatality crash or accident with egregious violations. However, there's none of that on their CSA scorecard. Two minor equipment lighting tickets and that's it. No dead bodies on the 6 o'clock news. No flipped over trucks with chicken nuggets leaking out all over the median. Practically nothing.

So I'm wondering... did the dog just eat their safety audit notice? Did the Georgia CMV enforcement folks wake up last Friday and get the brilliant idea to drop in on them?

Nonetheless, they were inspected and found to have zero compliance with just about every regulation in the book. Not just a few gaps. Gaping holes where there should have been boxes of logbook pages and DVIRs, driver files, drug % alcohol files, equipment files, and whatnot. Clearly they are in trouble.

But what brought FMCSA knocking on their door? About the only thing I can think of might be missing the bi-annual MCS-150 update, and subsequently disregarding warnings to update it. Whcih might have been enough to trigger an audit. After all, these guys have been in operation since at least 2008.

Or.... a mention several times of them having a policy of accepting loads exceeding the capacity of their trucks makes me wonder. I know scale tickets don't come up on CSA. So maybe that's it? Or maybe someone dropped a dime? (actually way more than that, if you could even find a pay phone)

So what do you think? A great big stack of scale tickets get the diesel bear's attention? Or maybe an unhappy ex-driver (probably for good reason) or a competitor that's been underpriced off of good accounts by this guy operating cheaper (and lesser) equipment called it in?

 

Luck of the draw. The DOT can and does do random audits. Maybe nothing more to it than that.

 

It's the crash rating that you can't see that likely triggered the audit. That or an angry ex-driver called out the dogs.

 

Yeah I considered that. At least in Georgia they'll call then fax a notice of audit, giving you easily over a week to get ready. Seriously more than enough time to gather up a few things to maybe come out of an audit with a few dings and avoid an immediate OOS order.

Maybe these guys just didn't take it seriously and pretended like they didn't know? Methinks they pissed someone off. Either the auditor for blowing them off, or maybe whoever turned them in.

I guess my point was: this is the first one of these that I've seen that didn't involve some sort of tragedy to bring on the heat.

 

RedForeman I read an article about this, I have to think where and when. It appeeared the FMCSA was given the go ahead to do anything in their means to bring carriers in line with regulations. Like Central refigerated, Employees turned them in, so I wonder if that wasn't the case here. Also the article mention that they were monitoring webs sites like this one. Gosh, I wish where!! I will continue to scan my memory banks and when I do figure it out I will post. Frickin hate geting old......

 

According to a news story they shut down another company at the same location a few weeks ago. Maybe they were connected.


The other company MC 682102 had a fatality and real bad scores. Same address and phone numbers.

 

That would be it wichris. I misread the article (might have been misquoted in the ajc article) and thought the other company, General Trucking, Inc., was OOS after and not before. Their OOS order is clear on CSA-related triggers. Looking at the one I posted just seemed heavy for what that company's profile was showing. Guess I should have read closer.

That OOS order is here. Makes the first one I posted seem like a baby slap.

So they probably got in there at their usual pace with the one last week, then found the chameleon company while investigating the first and slammed the door on it this week. By the way, the first OOS for this group of the same company linked in this post includes a third chameleon company in the original order.

I guess these guys were crashing their trucks faster than they could change the signs on the door. Have a look at just the scale violations and the fines must have been breathtaking.

 

I have a problem with a Government Agency shutting down small businesses! yea a fatality, bad bad score is serious but to shut the business down? i dont like it! My advice to those Companies, open another business clean with another name!

 

On a positive note, I suppose a carrier like this pulls the grading curve up a little so you might get away with one more tail lamp out before breaking the intervention threshold.

 

not a big company, only 10 trucks in Tucker Ga.