It was extremely windy the morning Big Rigs saw driver Andrew Sloss attending to a trailer behind the Western Star 4800 he drives for Daryl Dickenson Transport, which is based at Yatala in southern Queensland.
The 41-year-old truckie was parked beside the Townsville Port Access Road. “I have brought up steel from Port Kembla to Cairns and have a backload of scrap to deliver in Brisbane,” he says.
Sloss has been a truck driver for 17 years and with Dickenson Transport for three months.
He says the highway between Rolleston and Springsure was the worst he has been along in recent times. “It is an absolute disgrace,” he adds.
As for rest area for truckies, Sloss feels there could be more on certain routes. “We do need more between Sydney and Brisbane.”
Sloss has a 16-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter; and has German, Hungarian and Scottish descent on his family tree.
The first truck Sloss drove was a Kenworth K100e back in 2003.
When on the road Sloss likes stopping at Townsville’s BP Cluden Roadhouse. He barracks for the Parramatta Eels.