Certifying of Driver Tests by Tour Firm Being Investigated

Federal and state investigators are investigating allegations that Starline Sightseeing Tours Co. of Hollywood falsely certified to the state Department of Motor Vehicles that many of its tour drivers had been properly tested for commercial drivers’ licenses.

Department of Motor Vehicles investigators are interviewing current and former Starline drivers who have told reporters that the firm falsely advised the DMV that they had passed driving tests required to obtain a California Class II driver’s license.

They also said the certifications were made after the May 30 crash of a Starline tour bus in Mono County, killing 21 passengers. Before the crash, the drivers said, they drove the vans on commercial tours without the proper licenses.

Of 11 drivers interviewed by The Times, seven were still employed, two had quit and two had been fired. All drove 16-passenger vans on tours of stars’ homes in Beverly Hills.

Required for Commercial Drivers

A Class II license is required in California for the operation of a commercial bus or van. A Class III license is required for passenger cars.

These new allegations come as federal and state investigators continue to seek the cause of the Starline charter bus crash into the Walker River in Mono County. Twenty-one Los Angeles and Santa Monica residents, returning from a gambling trip to Reno, died. Starline operates 50 buses for long-distance charters and 14 vans for in-town tours.

Starline attorney Terence Lyons acknowledged Friday in an interview that some tour drivers were not properly licensed during a short period last spring, but he denied that the state’s licensing procedures had been violated or that any test results had been falsely certified.

“Some (van) drivers . . . failed to obtain a Class II license immediately upon employment in spring of 1986. There was a breakdown in the Starline check system for ensuring drivers were properly licensed,” Lyons said. “When Starline discovered this deficiency, it took action to see that the drivers became properly licensed and to see that such delays in licensing did not occur again.”

Ben Grunbaum, Starline director of quality control and the man who certified the tests to the DMV, told The Times that he submitted the certifications on the advice of the company’s senior drivers, who he said actually conducted the tests.

Grunbaum said he designated the company’s Hollywood tour division director, Mike Neustadt, to test and recommend drivers for certification. Neustadt said the drivers are given “four or five days training . . . on the job training under supervising personnel” before they qualify and are recommended for certification.

Neustadt denied that any driver had been improperly certified.

Of the 11 current and former van drivers interviewed by The Times, only one said he had a Class II license before the May 30 accident. They said they were told to get valid commercial licenses after the accident. DMV records confirm that at least five of these drivers were not issued their Class II licenses until July and August.

Two of these drivers, Jose Soto and John Hubbard, were leaders in a successful mid-July strike by van drivers against Starline for higher pay. Both were fired in August for refusing to take driving assignments, company officials said. Soto worked for nearly three months without a Class II license, DMV records show. His license, in fact, was issued a few days after his firing.

‘Told Not to Worry’

“Starline has no driver-training program. I never received any training. I just rode with another van driver to learn my route. After the accident, I was told to get my Class II license, but I never did take a driving test. . . . I was told not to worry about that.”

By law, a Class II applicant must pass a rigid driving test that includes a pre-trip vehicle inspection, driving through traffic and demonstrating an ability to stop the vehicle without brakes. They must be able to turn, back and park the vehicle. The DMV can administer the test, or, as in the case of Starline, can grant permission for the company to certify that it has given such a test.

DMV records show that five of the drivers have unrestricted Class II licenses that authorize them to drive even the biggest charter buses, even though none of them had any experience or training in large vehicles. “I wouldn’t even know how to start one of those buses,” said Soto, one of the five.

In Soto’s case, DMV officials said Grunbaum had certified that Soto was qualified to drive a 35-passenger bus. Company attorney Lyons said this was a clerical error made when Soto’s papers were filled out and mailed in. He said the company had notified DMV of the error.

Part of the probe into the May 30 crash centers on discrepancies in mileage logs and payroll records for Starline driver Ernst A. Klimeck, who was behind the wheel when the accident occurred. Investigators are seeking to determine if there was an attempt to cover up work schedules that kept Klimeck and perhaps other Starline drivers on the road far longer than allowed by state and federal law.

Limit on Hours Driven

Federal and state regulations limit drivers to 10 hours behind the wheel during any 15-hour period and 70 hours in any seven-day period without a day off. Records show that Klimeck was paid for as many as 21 1/2 hours a day during the week before the crash, even though his logs showed only 15 or 16 hours of driving time.

As a result of the discrepancies found in Klimeck’s records, National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Patricia A. Goldman has asked board investigators to go through all Starline records. The safety board has also alerted federal regulators at the Department of Transportation that there may be possible violations in the Starline case.

The California Highway Patrol in July cited Starline for failure to submit drivers’ logs to the CHP as required by law, Patrolman Jill Angel said. “No logs on this driver (Klimeck) were submitted for the entire month before the accident,” she said.

Three Starline charter bus drivers who contacted The Times in the wake of the crash have alleged that the company scheduled them to drive hours in excess of federal regulations.

“We’re routinely working 18-hour days. We phony up the logs and get paid for all the hours we work,” said one driver who talked on condition that his name not be used.

Grunbaum testified before a safety board hearing in Sparks, Nev., earlier this week that Klimeck’s driving logs were inaccurate. He also said drivers were sometimes paid for more hours than they actually worked as “an incentive.” He said the company trains and tests its drivers before letting them take passengers out either on long-distance charter trips or Beverly Hills tours of stars’ homes.