At just 20 years of age, Matt Healey of Brisbane is licensed to drive a prime mover, 8+ tonne truck and trailer, a bus and a regular car.
If all this sounds impressive, it’s because he’s had pretty big shoes to fill. With his father, Jason Healey obtaining his truck licence at 19 years of age, Matt was unfortunately only one month shy of breaking his dad’s record.
“Dad has been in the transport game his whole life and I’ve been around trucks and buses. All I’ve ever wanted to do is drive,” said Matt.
Jason’s own achievements also caught the media’s attention back in the 1990’s.
“I got my bus licence at 18 back in the day when it was called a D-class licence,” said Jason.
“Then I got my truck licence. The assessor suggested I do my semi-trailer licence, that way I could get my C and E class licence at the same time. I still have a video tape of Channel 10 when they did a story on me as Queensland’s youngest ever bus driver.”
When Matt was on school holidays, he would help his father handing our driver shift notes and ride shotgun with Jason during weekend shifts, and generally doing whatever extra work was available.
In 2014 Matt started washing trucks and buses, eventually obtaining an ABN to go into business for himself.
“That didn’t work out, so I went back to working with some people that I know before getting back into trucks,” said Matt.
Obtaining his car learner’s permit on the day of his 16th birthday in 2017, it didn’t take long before Matt to progress to his MR licence and eventually purchasing a 2014 Mack Trident with his business partner Daryl.
“Matt was driving the truck under learners with his partner Daryl in the passenger seat,” said Jason.
When Matt was ready to progress to his HC licence, he did so on his first attempt and has only recently qualified for a DA (Drivers Authority) licence, which allows him to carry commercial passengers in Queensland.
Matt is planning to alternate between truck and bus driving, with a leaning towards the former, while he and Daryl currently work hauling glass, steel and some mining equipment, which is where Matt currently divides the bulk of his driving duties.
“I don’t really want to drive buses full-time at the moment, probably just on weekends,” said Matt.
“If I had to choose, I’d probably choose trucks.”
“The best thing is the travelling. I’ve been to Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Hervey Bay, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay and Toowoomba and all that’s within a year,” he said.
With a commendation from the department of Transport and Main Roads Queensland now on his CV, the sky is definitely the limit for Matt.