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Jack Hodgetts’ pathway to the freeway

Jack Hodgetts has completed a diesel mechanic apprenticeship and now drives a Kenworth K104 for Kurt Rouse Transport of Myrtleford

 

Jack Hodgetts drives a 2006 Kenworth K104 around Myrtleford and on the Hume Highway and appreciates how lucky he was to start driving trucks in his early 20s.

Jack, who turns 24 in December, works for Kurt Rouse Transport of Myrtleford in North East Victoria.

Kurt Rouse and his wife Amena also operate Rouse Tyres & Mechanical Services at Myrtleford, and this is where Jack began a school-based apprenticeship in 2009.

“I did that for five or six months and then at the end of the year I came full-time to start my heavy vehicle [mechanic] apprenticeship,” Jack says.

At that stage Jack had no desire to become a truck driver, but he obtained a heavy rigid licence when he was 20 so he could test drive the trucks he was servicing.

He upgraded to a heavy combination licence when he was 21. Jack enjoyed driving and asked Kurt to let him spend more time in the driver’s seat.

“For the last 12 months I’ve pretty much been full-time in the truck, which I enjoy,” Jack says. “After doing four or five years in the workshop it’s good for a change.”

He loves the freedom of being on the road: “Once you leave here you’re pretty much your own boss. You know where you’ve got to be the next day, but from now until then if you want to pull over and have a rest for a while, or have something to eat, you can. You’re not really getting told what to do every step of the day.”

Kurt Rouse Transport operates nine trucks which cart general freight between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Since September 2015 the company has purchased three new Kenworth K200s from Twin City Truck Centre, Wodonga.

See our full report in the December issue of Owner//DriverSubscribe here.

 

 

Photography: Tamara Whitsed

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