Stan Hawkes is a man in a hurry. So, it‘s somewhat ironic that Mike Isle should find Stan taking a leisurely lunch roadside in their shared town of Kerikeri. Stan is a shorthaul driver working for local company Brockliss Haulage, which is in turn under contract to Toll.

Stan has been with (Mike) Brockliss for 18 months – his entire trucking life. Yet in that time he has worked his way up from class 4 to class 5 and earned his forks and dangerous goods licences.

As we said, a man in a hurry. Today he is driving a 500hp FM Volvo Euro 5, which Stan describes as a nice comfortable truck to drive with plenty of grunt for the general freight. The truck normally tows a trailer, which was parked along the road. His day starts with a full truck and trailer load from depot to The Warehouse. Much of the rest of each day is general freight duties, winding up with a trip south to the Mt Pokaka Sawmill to pull out upwards of 25 tonnes of timber Big day. But, yeah, he can get it done.

In his 18 months driving he has covered just about every route in Northland and that is one of the pleasures this Auckland-born, UK-raised, 26-year-old derives from driving – the scenery.

“It‘s just so beautiful up here, and the people are great too. Being your own boss, driving these roads, listening to a bit of Van Morrison – doesn‘t get much better.” Perhaps Stan is giving voice to the passion we all have about trucking. This one-time luxury car driver (as a car valet) would rather be driving trucks…any day.

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