When owner of Jason Kemps Advanced Driver Training got word of a young man hoping to go to his Grade 6 formal in a Scania truck, he answered the call without hesitation.
Matt, an 11-year-old Beresfield Public School student, was given the ride of his dreams last week, travelling through Newcastle in a jazzed up 2019 Scania R620, before turning heads when he arrived at his school formal.
The two met after Kemps responded to a post from Matt’s mother Stacey on Facebook. “She was a friend of a friend of a friend on Facebook and I got tagged in the post. He’s on the autism spectrum and he just loves Scania trucks. He can tell you how many nuts and bolts are in these trucks, how they’re made, where they’ve come from – he’s a walking encyclopedia on Scanias,” said Kemps.
“When Stacey contacted me and told me he has autism, I wanted to meet him before the formal because I wanted to make it comfortable for him, so we met about a month before. When he came into my office, I had a chance to talk to him and I found out that red is his favourite colour too. I told him to go and have a look at my truck to see if he wanted to go to his formal in it.”
Kemps bought the truck brand new last year and has done plenty of custom work to it too – from the lighting, the headboard and custom chrome bar under the bumper bar, to the fuel tank covers.
“I’ve been a truck driver my whole life. I grew up around trucks and machinery. My grandfather was also a truck driver,” he said. “I started my driver training business in 2013 and before that I was working as an owner operator, doing linehaul work.”
Along with a long career in trucking, Kemps also has a long history of charity work too, including being involved in the rural fire service for 30 years, as well as the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service and Burrumbuttock Hay Runners.