Hidden camera, internal memo reveal how unqualified truck drivers are getting onto Canada’s roads

The system for testing truck drivers in Ontario has been compromised by bribes, forged documents and rigged testing, says a memo leaked to CBC’s Marketplace by an industry insider.

A subsequent hidden camera investigation by Marketplace reveals that the training students get ahead of that test can be just as problematic.

Ontario’s DriveTest centres are managed by a company called Serco, which oversees operations and logistics for a variety of organizations, ranging from air traffic control for the Canadian Armed Forces to employment services for the federal government. 

The leaked internal memo, which was shared with Marketplace following an investigation into driving schools, was addressed to all driving examiners in Ontario. It reveals “a number of employees have either resigned or been terminated this past year due to investigations that we have completed involving allegations of inappropriate and illegal behaviour.”

• Watch the season premiere of Marketplace, “Truckload of Trouble,” Friday at 8 p.m., 8:30 p.m. in Newfoundland, on CBC-TV and anytime on YouTube or CBC Gem.

This behaviour ranges from examiners “accepting bribes for issuing road test passes, to manipulation of automatic versus manual transmission certificates, to false driver experience being added to driver records,” according to the memo.

The memo, dated November 2023, was signed by Gary Cook, Serco’s vice-president of operations.

It was shared with Marketplace by Kiera Dubois, a DriveTest examiner responsible for testing people who want to obtain their commercial trucking licence. 

“[I’m] basically putting my job on the line to say something,” she told Marketplace. CBC has agreed to change her name and conceal her identity because she fears losing her job for speaking out.

Dubois wasn’t shocked by the memo. She’s been hearing about bribery for years, and has even had people “float” the idea of bribing her for a pass. 

“These people [who] took bribes gave licences for a murder weapon … in any accident of a transport [truck] versus a car, more than likely the person in that car is not going to walk away.”

After nearly two decades of working for Serco, she feels the company values performance metrics and customer service over ensuring adequately trained drivers are getting their licence.

“In our company, there are times where we feel that someone shouldn’t be passing and we have to pass them … Our hands are tied.”

Marketplace requested an interview with Serco, which the company declined. In an email statement, spokesperson Alan Hill wrote that “Serco operates under the strict testing standards set by the Ministry of Transportation. Our aim is to provide a full and fair assessment of each driver’s skills, while ensuring that the road test reflects the applicant’s overall competency.” 

In response to the leaked memo, Hill wrote that the company takes allegations seriously, and immediately launched an investigation resulting in the termination of those involved in any fraudulent or illegal behaviour.

What is MELT?

Before becoming eligible for their road test in Ontario, prospective truckers must complete “mandatory entry-level training,” or MELT. The training was introduced in Ontario in 2017 and has since been introduced in the majority of other provinces in Canada, plus the Northwest Territories. 

In Ontario, MELT consists of at least 103.5 hours of training, including 32 hours on the road, 18 hours of backing-up training, 17 hours of in-yard training and 36.5 hours of in-classroom theory. 

Dubois is one of the examiners responsible for testing people trying to get their AZ licence, which allows them to drive a commercial tractor-trailer over 10,000 pounds with air brakes. 

She says not everyone she tests appears to have completed the MELT program, which prompted Marketplace to dig deeper into what is happening at truck training schools.

Hundreds of private career colleges offer MELT training, with a particular boom following the COVID-19 pandemic.

At public colleges such as Fanshawe College and Humber in Ontario, MELT can cost upwards of $10,000. But Marketplace found many private career colleges offer training for $3,500-$5,000. 

The cost is what attracted Ibrahim Manish to Smart Truck Training Academy.

“In hindsight, obviously that ended up being a pretty huge mistake,” he said. CBC has agreed to change his name because he fears speaking out will cost him employment opportunities. 

“I can just count on one hand the number of times I was taken out on the road,” he said.

For his in-yard instruction, Manish says he had to rely on YouTube videos and notes from other students to learn how to inspect a truck to ensure it’s safe to be on the road. 

In the few hours he did get on the road, Manish said there was often a second student in the truck along with him and the instructor, sitting on a foldable lawn chair with no seatbelt.

“I was like, how is this allowed? Like, how is this legal?”

Partway through his program, Smart Truck Training Academy suddenly shut down, leaving instructors unpaid and students out thousands of dollars. Despite the fact that Manish did not complete his 103.5 hours of training, a manager from Smart Truck Training Academy agreed to tell the Ministry of Transportation he had, making him eligible for the road test.

Marketplace attempted to reach the owner of Smart Truck Training Academy multiple times but got no response, and learned they have left Canada.

Manish ended up paying thousands in additional training at other schools, as well as to use their trucks to pass his road test. After multiple attempts, he is now a full AZ licence holder. He says he’s looking for his first job with a carrier that offers extra training for new hires. 

Hidden camera captures schools taking shortcuts

A CBC journalist, posing as a prospective student, walked into five truck school training yards with hidden cameras to document what instructors would tell prospective students. 

At one school, an instructor implied students can take their road test before the mandatory 103.5 hours is completed. “The hours don’t matter,” he said. “It is our responsibility to get you ready for the road test. Maybe you will be ready in 90 hours or 30 to 40.”

At other schools, Marketplace spoke with students who had not completed any in-class lessons, and had no idea they had to. Instructors confirmed to the undercover journalist that they wouldn’t need any in-class lessons.

Other instructors said they would teach all theory in the yard, despite MELT rules stating it must be taught in a separate classroom environment.

The schools Marketplace visited also said that students would be trained according to what each DriveTest location tends to ask for during a road test. This is a big red flag, says Matt Richardson, vice-president at KRTS Transportation Specialists Inc, one of the oldest truck training schools in Ontario.

“You’re now working off memory, so you may not actually know how to safely and successfully operate the unit in a number of different scenarios that you could encounter on a daily basis,” he said. 

One school broke it down by city: “Suppose you have a test in Peterborough. They do the S-back,” said an employee, referring to a technique used to back a truck into a dock. “If you have a test in Orillia or Newmarket, they do the C-back.”

In a 2023 report, Ontario’s auditor general cautioned against driving schools using this practice, writing “it may undermine the integrity of the driving examination process.”

Dubois believes this is how some inadequately trained students are passing their road test.

As well, Dubois says she is told to let some infractions slide during road tests, even if they’re breaking traffic laws. For example, if a student rolls through a stop sign or speeds, they won’t receive any marks against them unless it happens a second time during a test. 

Marketplace has reviewed internal documentation provided to road test examiners that confirms that if a student completes a rolling stop, an examiner should issue a verbal warning and not mark the occurrence on the score sheet.

Serco said that errors are permitted, provided “they do not accumulate more than the defined threshold for a ‘pass,’ and no illegal or dangerous maneuvers were performed.”

Dubois believes some of this leniency is due to the pressure of a passing rate that examiners are expected to stay within. If they stray too far from the average pass rate, they’ll be investigated. Having that thought in the back of their minds, says Dubois, could encourage colleagues to pass people they shouldn’t. 

Serco wrote that they track pass and fail rates to deliver consistent and fair testing across all driver examiners.

Ministry agrees MELT is not effective

In 2019, Ontario’s auditor general released a report urging the Ministry of Transportation to review the MELT program and increase enforcement for commercial vehicles. 

In a 2022 follow-up report, Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation responded to the auditor general, saying MELT is “not an effective program” and writing there had been “little evidence of road safety benefit resulting from the July 2017 MELT program.” 

While the MELT program is governed by the Ministry of Transportation, private career colleges, which offer the majority of truck training schools, are regulated by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.

Only a handful of investigators are responsible for inspecting and auditing all private career colleges. This includes more than 200 truck training schools, plus 400 other private career colleges, teaching everything from hairdressing to payroll to plumbing. Investigators are expected to be experts in all programs.

Marketplace asked the Ministry of Colleges and Universities why so few resources are dedicated to investigating an increasing number of truck training schools. They declined to speak directly with CBC, but sent a statement saying the ministry has “taken action on bad actors to ensure that all training is done safely and to standard.”

It added that “all career colleges are inspected regularly, as well as in response to concerns or complaints the ministry becomes aware of.”

Ontario’s Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria declined an interview request with Marketplace multiple times. Earlier this week at a press conference, he said Ontario has some of the safest roads in North America. 

This claim is often repeated by the government. However, a 2021 report from the province’s auditor general flags that when looking only at commercial vehicles, Ontario had a higher injury and fatality rate than the rest of Canada.

A 2024 report from the Insurance Bureau of Canada suggests that accident rates are on the rise for commercial vehicles. 

When asked about the Serco memo, Sarkaria said his ministry has passed all necessary information to authorities.

With regards to truck training schools and the findings of Marketplace’s investigation, he admitted there were “some bad actors out there” and that his ministry will “spare no expense” to enforce the MELT program. 

While she waits for the government to take more action, Dubois says she’s going to do her best to stop bad drivers from hitting Canadian roads. 

Even so, she’s still nervous to drive herself. “I avoid highway driving as much as possible. If I can take other roads, I will.”