Swift Transportation provides in adequate and inept trainers then takes no responsibility for what you don't learn - black-balls you on your DAC Report Pheonix, Arizona

I started driving as a student driver with Swift Transportation in April 2011. They assigned me a trainer that was more interested in talking to his mistress on the phone than train me. At the end of his time at Swift, because he quit and went to another company, we sat nearly two weeks without him accepting any loads.

I contacted my Student Driver Manager and informed him of the situation. This is the email I sent:

Tom,

My mentor, Mark ***** - truck number ******, has decided to go with ****. And, there are some issues I need to discuss with you. They are numbered.1) After Mark spoke with my cousin, ******* *******, whom drives for ****, Mark decided he was going there and refused almost every load that the dispatch sent. About two weeks ago was our last load that he accepted.2) During the two days we sat in Des Moines,

Iowa, he wouldn't even let me practice backing up. He said that he didn't have the fuel. l did tell him that I could put some in. But, he said that he would have to be on the clock.3) Mark made mention that he intentionally kept from informing me about what to expect in the major cities and other types of situations, just to see how I would react.4) We didn't do a single Pre-trip inspection while I was with him. All we did was look to make sure there were no puddles of fluids under the truck, checked to make sure the locking jaws of the fifth wheel was locked around the kingpin, and made sure the tandoms on the trailer were still locked. He told me that out on the road a driver will be lucky if they do one full Pre-trip in their career.

There are other issues, but these are most important right now. The reason I haven't brought these up earlier is because I was afraid that he would do just as he did to his student efore me, from what he said. He told me that he had her removed from his truck. And, he contacted some of the mentors he knows and made it extremely difficult for her to find one.Mainly, what I am saying is: "I was worried that he would make things extremely difficult on my chances of having a good career.I will understand if you decide to boot me from the Student Program, for not bringing these issues to you attention before now. I apologize for not doing so. And, if we can discuss this over the phone, before you make a decision, I would greatly appreciate it.

The reply I received was: Tom Thanks for bringing these topics to my attention. Give me a call this morning, so we can talk about getting you with a good mentor.

Instead of getting me with a "good" mentor, I received a person that had never trained anyone and was also more interested in talking with a mistress instead of training me. In fact, this trainer was with me when I had one of my accidents/incidents that is now listed on my DAC Report. We were in West Columbia, SC and I was trying to drop a trailer in a drop yard. My trainer was standing outside, when I was backing up, and paying attention to what was on his phone than watch how I was performing. I got out and looked several times and thought I was doing well. However, I bumped a trailer, put just a few scratches in both trailers, notified my student driver manager, and then he helped a driver from another company get into his spot. Not once did he help me.

The second acc/inc involved having my tandems all of the way back on the trailer, which I didn't know that you shouldn't and couldn't do that. I caught a bridge with the side of the trailer and put some black marks on the trailer. I had gotten lost in eastern Pennsylvania, which I had never been out that way. Swift Transportation, Minnesota Terminal, sent me out to New Jersey for my first solo run. I was unfamiliar with those places because my trainers would never take me to those types of places.

My third acc/inc occurred in a Flying J Truck Stop parking lot, in Winchester, VA. I was provided a note from the Flying J personnel saying that the accident wasn't my fault, due to an illegally parked truck. Swift Transportation never considered anything they had to say. A copy of that note is added as a phote, which the note was also submitted to Swift Transportation.

Swift Transportation terminated/fired me in August 2011. And, they added "Unsatisfactory Safety Record" to my DAC Report. I submitted a dispute with DAC (HireRight) about it. Swift Transportation decided that nothing would come off of the report. Therefore, that one stupid phrase is keeping me from getting a job. In other words, "Swift Transportation is saying that I was the only one at fault. Even though, it was their lowsy and inept trainers that provided me with inadequate training. And, due to their lack of responsibility, I'm basically being black-balled, through my DAC Report, and can't do anything about it."