INTERVIEW: Hugh Paton recently had the honour of becoming a ‘Young Achiever’ co-winner at the Queensland Trucking Association’s Freight Industry awards. Hugh works as the operations manager for Sizer and Cogill in Townsville, Queensland.
Q: How did it feel to accept the award?
A: It was a real honour; I’ve been working in the transport industry all my life but being so young I never expected anything like an award that’s for sure.
Q: Did you ever think you would win?
A: No way, I never expected any of this to happen that’s for sure. I just thought someone had to show up to the event because my company was part of the association and had tickets to the dinner event. I honestly had no idea I was to be the winner until the moment they called my name out at the show.
Q: How did the nomination come about?
A: We’re part of the QTA (Queensland Trucking Association). The person we deal with there nominated me. She has a lot to do with our business up here in Queensland. I was really busy at the time and tried to say that I couldn’t make it to Brisbane for the show. I kicked and screamed and told my boss I wasn’t going to be there. He came to me and said I had to go whether I liked to or not. So I begrudgingly got on a plane and flew over, went to the show. And bugger me dead I won the award.
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Hugh occasionally gets behind the wheel. Here he’s delivering containers to Townsville’s port in an evergreen Mack Valueliner
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Q: What’s your background in the industry?
A: I’ve born into the industry; my dad has a transport logistics company and so there were always trucks around when I was growing up. I’d come home from school and wash trucks or on the weekend help out. Then as soon as I could get my licence, I was in a truck every chance I could get pretty much.
I had a mind to stay out of the trucks when I left school though, I wanted to become a diesel mechanic. I just didn’t think the lifestyle would suit me, it’s such a tough job. But it’s still in my blood, I can’t avoid it completely. Even now every now and then I still like to get away for a drive.
After school I did a dual apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic and an auto electrician. Once I finished that I started my own business as a mechanic and a contractor and that’s how I got involved with Sizer and Cogill, who I work for now, because I was a contract mechanic for them.
Chris Sizer, the director, then asked me to move to Townsville. I worked for them as a mechanic for a short time but then was soon in a truck helping out. With the driver shortage they needed all the help they could get,
and I had my heavy vehicles licence already so I just jumped in and started driving.
Everything really changed for me one Sunday afternoon when I was sitting having a beer and my boss Chris suddenly comes and says to me, “Here’s my phone” and handed me his work phone. He wanted me to be the manager while he was away just like that; we seriously did the handover the morning he was leaving. He just said, “You’ll be right”.
So that’s how it all started. I was proper worried about it at first, I told him no way this is happening. But then I just grabbed it with both hands and now 18 months later I’m still doing it.
Q: What do you enjoy about truck driving and working in your industry?
A: The peace and the quiet and the long drives, the people you meet up and down the road. As well as all the challenges you come up against out in the bush.
Q: What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role now?
A: At the moment it’s not having the young fellas in the industry. I really don’t know what the future holds for transport in this country. Kids these days are pushed to either go to uni or do an apprenticeship. And even if young people do want to work, because of the insurance, no one wants to employ anyone under 25 most of the time. Unless you’re born and bred into the industry it’s very hard to get a start.
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Harvest time in Central Queensland for these Sizer and Cogill Western Stars
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Q: What do you have to say about the state of younger people in the transport industry?
A: It’s a shame there isn’t more young people working because it’s a tight knit community and a lot of fun really. There’s so many opportunities and different experiences, you get to see the country too.
The QTA has now come up with their apprenticeship program which I think is a good thing for the industry to bring more young people in. But there’s a massive gap there between the older folks who are working and the younger people coming through.
Q: What do you think is stopping young people from joining the industry?
A: The fact that you must be 25 before anyone will give you a real start in the industry. Most people, by then, have already started their career pathway, they’ve done an apprenticeship or gotten a university degree. It’s very hard for younger people to get a start.
The only reason I was able to get a start before then, and I think this is the rule generally, is because I was born into it and started working with trucks from a very young age.
Q: What does the future look like for you?
A: I’m keen to keep on as operations manager of Sizer and Cogill for a while, we’re growing a lot now with 24 trucks that we have moving around.
Q: How do you think the industry will change in the future?
A: Employers will be forced into using electric trucks if the shortage of drivers continues.
Photography: Hugh Paton, Sizer & Cogill