Trucking wasn’t always on the cards for this third-generation truckie, but he’s glad he made the switch, as he takes to the road in a brand new K220.
Luke Read, 40, admits he always had a thing for trucks, sparked by his grandfather Alick Earl, who ran a transport business.
“Pop had his own trucks, carting sand in the tippers. So as a kid, on the school holidays, the highlight for me was getting up at 3am and getting in the truck with Pop,” Luke fondly recalled.
“As he was an owner driver, they were his trucks, so he was paying for them and doing all the maintenance, so I think that instilled a good mindset for me about the importance of really looking after the gear.”
Despite his early introduction to trucks, life led Luke on a different path – working in medical imaging for 10 years. But when Covid hit, it forced him to re-evaluate what it was he really wanted to do.
“I was working at a hospital in a job I enjoyed – then Covid took all the joy out of it.
“I decided to pack my family up out of Wollongong and we moved to Young,” said Luke.
And he and his wife, along with their four children – aged eight, six, three and almost two – have called Young home ever since.
Luke only got his start driving trucks in September 2022, and then progressed to his MC in December 2023. He says he’s lucky to have had such exceptional mentors, teaching him how to do the job – and do it right!
His first driving role was with Madden’s Transport, where he was mentored by trucking veteran Jeff Gunning, who Luke describes as “an old school truck driver who just loves being out on the road”.
It was general freight work, with Luke starting out with his HR licence. “Tony put me in the truck with Jeff and for the next three months, he was there with me, in the passenger seat,” Luke explained.
“Jeff taught me everything I know – all the intricate details about driving a truck and everything else that goes with it, even how to use the pallet jack. He’s still driving trucks and is such a good operator. Jeff was the best person to have as a mentor. Even today when I’m working, I still hear Jeff’s voice in my head.
“I used to collect apples with Jeff in the mountains and he taught me about driving on inclines and on the goat tracks they call roads.
“I got to spend all that time with Jeff, who shared his years of experience, and he was really good at communicating all of that.”
In early 2023, Tony Madden decided to close his doors, after almost 50 years in business, so he could retire. “I was given an opportunity at Paul Lawton Freight through Jeff Gunning, who had already started there. He put in a good word for me and I worked there until I started in my current role with Rocky Lamattina & Sons,” revealed Luke.
“Even though Jeff and I don’t work together anymore, I still speak with him nearly every day. I’ve been able to work through so many different scenarios in this job because of what Jeff taught me. I owe him for a lot of the confidence I now have in the truck.”
It will be one year this month since Luke started working with Rocky Lamattina & Sons.
“I finished with Paul Lawton Freight on December 23 last year and the next morning was up at 6am to do my first B-double run in a Lamattina truck, delivering my first load of carrots on Christmas night.”
Rocky Lamattina & Sons operates a fleet of 16 trucks – all Kenworths, including K200s, T909s, and five new K220s all delivered since July.
Family owned and operated, Rocky Lamattina & Sons is the country’s largest carrot producer – growing the product all year-round and processing up to 1000 tonnes of carrots each week.
It was started by Rocky in 1991 and is now run by his sons Angelo, Phil and John.
In the colder months of the year, the company’s carrots are grown from their 6000-acre home base property in Wemen, on the banks of the Murray River in northern Victoria. In the summer months, carrots are grown at a cooler climate 6000-acre property at Kaniva, Victoria, right near the South Australian border. Along with a third property at St George in southern Queensland, on the banks of the Balonne River.
Rocky Lamattina & Sons operates quite the unique fleet of trailers – from innovative PBS-approved 30-pallet singles up to B-triples and B-quads. These B-quads can operate at 107 tonnes gross with a payload of 74 tonnes.
Interestingly, Luke and the Lamattinas go way back, with both families heavily involved in racing Top Fuel Dragsters – with Phil Lamattina, and Luke’s brother, also named Phil, tasked with racing them around the country.
Luke’s father Jim Read also has his own truck – an ex-Lamattina 2004 Kenworth K104 – which is used as a car transporter, travelling the dragster circuit.
“Both the Lamattina and Read families have Top Fuel Dragsters, 11,500hp fire breathing machines that reach speeds of over 500km/h in just 3.7 seconds so we’re talking drag racing royalty with my dad Jim being an international drag racing hall of fame member and along with his dad, both Phil Lamattina and my brother Phil have won Australian Championships,” explained Luke.
“I’ve known the Lamattina family for years through the drag racing. One day my dad was speaking with the Lamattina guys about the work I was doing and then they called and offered me a job. I put in my two weeks resignation without hesitation that day and then started with them.
“I always looked at the Lamattina trucks and thought to myself, man they’re beautiful – and I put that as being my benchmark for being able to say I’ve reached my goal. Now I’m driving the trucks I admire most. The trucks are immaculate at Lamattina, their maintenance schedule is pretty first class.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen so soon.
“I’ve never been happier in a job – this is as good as it gets,” he added.
Luke started out in a 2015 model single steer K200, pulling B-doubles filled with carrots from the company’s farms to produce markets and supermarkets; as well as occasional runs with a B-triple from the Wemen farm to a processing facility in Adelaide.
His role sees him travel predominantly to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Since last month, Luke’s been in a new twin steer K220 with a single trailer – and it’s not just an ordinary set-up either. As Luke explained, “The trailer set-up for the company’s twin steer trucks was designed by Angelo. These 30-pallet singles can carry the same payload as the B-double, but with one less trailer.”
The 30-pallet units run at a length of 22.5 metres, replacing the 32-pallet B-doubles being purchased previously.
The design was Angelo Lamattina’s brainchild and came to fruition after looking for a more efficient means of getting the company’s carrots from point A to point B.
The trailers were manufactured by Southern Cross Trailers and just like the B-doubles in the fleet, can achieve a payload of around 36 tonne.
As Angelo explained, “It’s getting hard to get drivers so having a vehicle like this means the operator doesn’t have to worry about connecting and disconnecting the trailers, which isn’t as hard on the back.
“The beauty about this particular vehicle is that even though we’re carrying the same payload, the GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) is less.
“The B-doubles come in at between 66-68 GVM, while these ones are 62 tonne GVM – because you’ve got less axles, one less fridge motor and the trailer isn’t as long.”
Interestingly, the Lamattina brothers had kept Luke’s new truck completely under wraps. “It was all kept secret, I had no idea. I knew this truck was the latest one that came in. After it turned up, Lamattina put all their bells and whistles on it, but it hadn’t been allocated to a driver yet,” Luke revealed.
“When I got there, I saw it had ‘Road Train’ signs on it. Phil and Angelo put their serious faces on and told me they had some good news and some bad news. When they said the bad news was I wouldn’t be driving my truck anymore, I quickly worked out what the good news was.
“I’ve driven a lot of modern trucks, but this is the first brand new one I’ve ever had.
“You don’t always get the brand new truck when you first start somewhere, so this was a pretty nice reward.”
The new K220 features Kenworth’s Big Cab and is equipped with all the creature comforts including a television, fridge, freezer and more. “It’s like a small bedroom in there, which is great because I spend more time in the truck than I do at home,” said Luke.
“It could be a booming 30 degrees outside, but in the truck with the air con on and curtains closed, you wouldn’t even know it’s not nighttime.”
The truck also features an automatic transmission and though Luke admits he was a little apprehensive at first, after coming out of a manual, he quickly came around. “I was used to the Road Ranger and when you’re driving long hours, it gives you something else to do. I got used to the auto pretty quickly though – it’s one less thing the driver has to worry about.”
Going from two trailers to one has also had its advantages too. “The first night I had to unload was really nice. When you have to split up your trailers two or three times in a few hours, having the single trailer really makes a difference. It makes the job easier and more efficient – and there are lots of advantages on the maintenance side of things too.”
Angelo added that it’s great to see his drivers happy in their role – and their trucks. “We do a lot of work to try and please our drivers. I’m really happy to see that in this case, Luke is happy with the new truck – that means we got the result we’re looking for!”