Tony Stempa was filling up at BP in Levin when Faye Lougher stopped for a chat. Driving a 2013 DAF XF 105 with a 16-speed auto, Tony had driven from Palmerston North to Wellington that morning and was on his way back to Palmerston North. When his shift finished, another driver takes the truck up to Napier. Tony has been line haul driving for Halls for about five years, moving refrigerated freight. “I just got sick of working in an office – now I‘ve got a corner office with a view!” He says the best part of the job is that he gets left alone to get on with his work.

“I get left to my own devices and I don‘t get bothered as long as I get the job done – and then I go home.” Tony says a lot of the issues in the industry today are to do with the drivers. “Look at all the rollovers lately. It comes down to driver experience and there is a real shortage of quality drivers.” The old pie or quiche question was met with an emphatic “Pie – steak and cheese of course!”

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