Swift Academy Licenses Suspended

You know Pawpaw, it's easy for you to say this about lawsuits until it happens to you. When someone's been unjustifiably injured they are entitled to some sort of compensation. No, I'm not talking about the idiot who set her HOT coffee in her lap. No one should be allowed to file a lawsuit for being stupid. But sometimes people have to take a stand when they see a huge injustice taking place. You know, as well as I, the trucking industry needs massive reform and until people take a stand these trucking companies are going to continue down the path they've been going because no one person is big enough to take them on.

Why are groceries still going up in price? The price of fuel has plummeted but yet these prices continue to rise. The fuel price was the excuse of things going up everywhere, so what's the excuse now? Could it be that the trucking companies decided to continue to charge these exorbidant shipping charges to enrich themselves? But yet keep the wages down for the very people who are the backbone of the company (drivers)? I could very well be wrong and if someone could correct me if I am. These costs no matter what they are, are going to be passed on to the consumer by someone......greedy companies is my guess. And why do they continue to go up? Because we accept this situation, just like we accept the way the trucking industry plays their games on you, the truck driver. When will we stand up and say enough is enough? Or do we accept the status quo?

Many people were wronged, not by themselves but by someone else. Someone has to right this wrong......whoever it is.

 

Thank you TruckrsWife... I agree with this. While I wouldn't want to see the companies shut down and tens of thousands put out of work, something needs to be done so they have to treat people fairly. One of the problems I saw while working in the industry is that big companies have so many applicants and so many drivers looking to sign on, that losing one driver and getting a slap on the wrist is nothing to them. They are not afraid of litigation or regulation because they hold all the cards in the form of billions of dollars and teams of lawyers.

As for who is at fault, I don't think it's known in this case. However, when I spoke to the MI dept. of state, I was told this was happening because of the school. Obviously that doesn't mean it is set in stone that it is the case, but this is what they were told and what was passed along to me.

In regards to the Academy we were, as someone else said, given no other alternative than to use their testers. I though it was weird at the time that the same people teaching us the skills were the ones testing us out on them... but when I asked, I was told there was nothing wrong with this. Being as it is a different state than mine with different practices of law, I did not question further--though now I regret not looking into it independently. Many people trusted the school to be following the law and to be honest with us... and unfortunately that trust was misguided since three years later they are now telling me the CDL I worked so hard to get was never truly valid. This is a devastating thing to both drivers and those who no longer drive... We went through that whole process and paid all of that money for nothing. I had planned to return to trucking in some form in the future... but now I will have no choice but to do the school thing all over again when/if I go back. I have heard from a friend that those still working for Swift are going to be reimbursed for taking the tests and will have use of the vehicle. But, sadly for those of us who no longer work for them--we are on our own. I for one do not have the means to do anything about this, and what is most saddening to me is those who will lose their jobs for lack of means to take care of this. There is something inherently wrong about that.

 

Unfortunately this seems to be something that happens way too frequently. There was recently a school here in MI that was testing incorrectly. Everyone who went there during that time period had to be re-tested. To me this is a strong indication that there is not enough state or federal oversight for these schools and 3rd party testers. With something as important as a CDL they should all have to meet a very high standard and that high standard should be enforced. Unfortunately, it seems that those who are supposed to be ensuring that trucking schools and testers are legal and following the law have dropped the ball. Either that or enforcement is way underfunded. Irregardless, drivers are held to a high standard on the road (as they should be). It only makes sense to me that everyone involved in the CDL process be held accountable for their part. Just like drivers who violate the law have penalties, so too should schools and testers who pump out illegal licenses.

 

First off I am not surprised this has happened at the Swift driving academy. I attended Millington after the bust had happened. I was very disappointed in the instruction. How does an instructor split his time between 2 groups of 5-6 students per group? Keep in mind each group has a truck and the groups are not even in yelling distance of each other. The instructor would show the backing skill and walk through it with each student and then disappear to the other group. We were lucky if the instructor spent an entire 3 out of the 11 hour time frame with us. Students were teaching students.

And before anyone ask, no I did not finish my "training" at Millington, I left of my choosing realizing it was not the environment for me to get my CDL. I since attended a different driving academy and have my CDL.

I know a lot of people who attended Millington before the bust and most of them have said they are very concerned and upset about the re-test procedure. They all know the instructors were also the DOT examiners and most of them know there was a lot of leeway on their obtaining their CDL.

Everyone needs to keep in mind good hard working people paid Swift $3900 and trusted this company to stand behind their word that the company was doing everything according to the TN guidelines. Isn't it a conflict of interest for an instructor to be the DOT examiner????? I have been informed the skills and pre-trip were done by the instructor but the road test was done by someone else.

Safety should be the main concern, the re-testing needs to be done but at who's expense?

 

So again I say, if people sue Swift, and current drivers are unjustifiably hurt by pay cuts caused by such suits or by the company being shut down, then are you fine with the current drivers suing those who caused this to happen? What goes around comes around.

 

That would be the training facility that Swift hired/contracted.....sue away.

We have to follow the rope to the end, not to the first knot.

 

I said whoever is responsible. And yes, if Swift is ultimately found to be responsible for these people having been injured then some compensation is in order.

I used to be like you, passive, willing to let people walk all over me......not anymore. If someone does something to me that damages me then they are responsible for their actions, and those actions have consequences (that's why we have laws). If I went through a red light and hit someone, am I not responsible for the damages they sustained as a result of my negligence? Or do you think that the person who was hit should just walk away and get on with their life? No matter how much it cost them in pain and suffering due to not being able to work or take care of their family or repairing the damage to their vehicle? I would hope that you wouldn't believe that to be the case.

In your analogy, the current drivers are still damaged as a result of the company's actions and not by those others who sought relief.

I do not condone frivilous lawsuits. They shouldn't even be able to make it to court. But these people who have to re-test have been horribly inconvenienced by depriving them of their opportunity to provide for their families and other financial obstacles that ensue, and should be compensated by the party who's actions brought this on. I can't fathom why you feel they should just suck it up and move on.

I'm curious why you feel this way? Is it because this could potentially threaten your job/income? You can be defensive because it pertains to the company you work for, but disallow them to feel the same way. Now for a minute walk in their shoes because this is what they are up against right now. It doesn't feel good does it?

 

In my case it was the same instructors who taught the skills portion who administered the road test. I actually had the same instructor for two out of the three tests. I'm not sure if everyone had it this way, but during my class it was always the same 4 testers for everything.

One interesting thing I will mention is during my time at the Academy, there were also a couple of instructors fired and there was talk of PTDI removing their endorsement of the school because of this (all hush hush of course, but word travels). Unfortunately at that point, all of us were too far in to get our money back and stayed through the end, assured the whole time that things were hunky-dorey. But, we all knew something had the potential to go awry when instructors were being let go for harassing students and violating safety procedures. Anyone asking questions was told they were being paranoid. I never thought in a million years that this would all somehow come down on the students... I believed the whole time if TN gave us the license that it was valid and had no problems. Especially after my home state accepted it without question. Silly me, I guess I'm still a bit naive.