On Friday, the FMCSA placed HP Distribution LLP and its affiliated company HP Distribution LLC out of service because of serious violations that the FMCSA says pose an imminent hazard to public safety.
Upon investigation, the FMCSA found extensive hours of service violations. Over the past 24 months, HP Distribution LLP has received 100 fatigued driving violations– 31 for not current driver’s record-of-duty statuses and 26 for general log violations.
The FMCSA also found that the companies currently permit or require their drivers to violate hours of service and falsify their logs. An investigation found that 72% of the companies’ drivers falsified their logs.
“Additionally, HP Distribution dispatched potentially fatigued drivers on interstate trips without regard for the safety of the drivers or the traveling public,” FMCSA stated.
“You are fully aware of driver violations through your own log checking reports but have taken no discernible steps to stop driver behavior. The evidence demonstrates that you refuse to comply with the hours o f service regulations and refuse to require drivers to do the same. As a consequence, you dispatch drivers to the highways in a potentially fatigued or excessively fatigued condition and without regard for their or the public’s safety. Your actions substantially increase the likelihood o f serious injury or death to drivers who operate commercial motor vehicles for HP Distribution LLP and HP Distribution LLC and to the motoring public,” FMCSA stated.
Both carriers, their vehicles and their drivers have been placed out of service.
“This case sends a clear message that we will use every tool at our disposal to identify and remove from our roads unsafe truck and bus companies,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “Our agency is committed to raising the bar for commercial vehicle and driver safety.”