Drunk Driver

[Crusher]

Hi guys,
I had a driver who has worked for me for about 3 years, he is a middle school teacher during the day and drives one night a week for us. Always a great guy he is in his 50’s and I have never had any issues with him. Last night he came in at 5:00 and we were really busy so he started taking delivers right away and I barely saw him come and go. At about 6:00 he calls me and says he just rolled his car and that he quits. He goes on to say that the cops are coming and he is screwed and hangs up. I am kinda in shock at this point and don’t know what is going on or why he called me to quit right after he crashed. Because we were really busy I couldn’t leave the store for about another hour. When I do, I go talk to the cops that were on the scene and they tell me that he was at the hospital getting checked out and that he is being arrested for OWI. HE WAS DRUNK! I cannot believe this, a guy who is usually really responsible and is a teacher comes to work as a driver, drunk. I guess that is why he quit on the spot. I talked to him this morning and found out he is an alcoholic and has been hiding it for years. The cops joked that maybe we should get a breathalyzer and check the drivers before they start, I might actually do that. Atleast no one was hurt and he didn’t kill an innocent person with his stupidity.

 

[system]

Sorry to hear something like this happened but a good time too make sure all the right insurance is in place and at the levels that it needs too be. Good to hear it was only him involved in the accident but it sounds like you got very lucky also. This is something that is so hard to monitor and you can only do so much to protect yourself. Time to have a long talk with all your employees and see what steps you need to take to further protect everyone in the future. Best of luck.

 

[DowntownImo_s]

This is my first post…been lurking for a while.

I have had this problem before…without the accident.

We had a very good older delivery driver who worked for us for about three years+. After which we started to think he “might” be drinking on the job but were unsure. 48 hours and $125 later I owned a breathlizer (made sure he didn’t work those two days). I posted a sign that restating our alchol/drug policy and adding that anyone could be asked to “provide a sample” at anytime.

We breathalized him as soon as he hit the door for his next shift…sure enough, drunk. Fired. We now go over the policy at every driver meeting and randomly breathlize the whole staff about quarterly…keeps everyone sober and gives me piece of mind. My insurance agent also says keeping records of our breathlizing dates and results will help me with any liablity lawsuits.

My .02.