Owner-driver Ian Gillie has spent over 40 years behind the wheel, and despite the challenges of a pandemic, he has been keeping very busy.
“I’ve had the International for 13 months now, and it’s really doing the job I bought it for and doing it well, and I’m really happy with it and its performance,” said Gillie, who owns a 2010 International Eagle 9200 with a 525 ISX Cummins up front.
When we caught up, he was towing a tri-axle trailer which he had taken from Brighton to Interlaken and was on his way home to knock off for the day.
“I started driving about 42 years ago, and I have been an owner-driver off and on for the last 30 years or so, and I’d have to say I have always liked being out on the road, so it was a happy choice at the time, and has been a good life at that,” Gillie said.
“I usually tow B-doubles and I am certainly keeping busy in this year’s lead up to Christmas, which is good, as it was tough there for a while, in fact we just kept going during the COVID-19 hard times.
“But as I carry lots of garden supplies for Barwick’s, a lot of people suddenly took up gardening during the lockdown and so we did keep going.
“I’d have to say Barwick’s are a great local family company to work for and they have looked after us all.”
We asked him about his time away from the road, and he smiled and answered, “Well that’s mostly wash, polish and grease and that sort of stuff.”