A veteran truckie and the sole carer of his quadriplegic son, Peter Boland has won a lengthy fight to keep his licence, after a gearbox malfunction threatened to take it away.
On the front of Peter’s truck are the words “Against all odds” – it’s a motto he and his profoundly disabled, brain-injured son PJ, continue to live by every single day.
Peter, 66, is a hard-working third-generation truckie who’s been driving for 48 years and in that time, has travelled over 3 million accident-free kilometres.
His son PJ, now 38, was a happy thriving little boy. At five years old, PJ had just started school and all seemed fine.
That night PJ went to bed and in the middle of the night, Peter could hear him coughing so went to check on him. “I couldn’t wake him, he was unconscious. Then he had a massive seizure and landed on the floor,” Peter recalled.
It turned out to be a severe brain aneurism and ahead of surgeons having to operate, PJ was given just a 5 per cent chance of survival.
“We took him to the Dandenong Hospital and they said he was too sick to stay there, so he was air-lifted to the Royal Children’s Hospital where he had a nine-hour operation. As the day went on, we realised just how serious it was. I had never heard of an aneurism until that day,” said Peter.
Following surgery, PJ was in a coma for almost nine months. “He can use his left arm and shoulder but everything else is paralysed. He was right-handed before so can’t really write. He’s had two more brain operations since then and has severe epilepsy.
“PJ has to have 30 tablets a day. His epilepsy medication also suppresses his appetite so that’s difficult too. He only weighs 26kg but every time they try to wean him off that medication he has seizures. If I wasn’t onto it, he wouldn’t eat for days.”
Peter has gone through heartache that no parent should ever have to bear but has always looked on the bright side. Speaking to Peter, it’s clear that he and PJ share a truly special bond.
However, Peter’s recent legal nightmare took a toll, keeping Peter up at night.
Peter had an unblemished driving record – until he got a dodgy replacement gearbox, followed by a string of speeding fines, leading to the loss of all 12 of his demerit points.
Based in Hampton Park, Victoria, Peter is an owner operator, who drives the same 2001-model UD flat-bed truck he purchased 16 years ago. He continues to work to support his son, sub-contracting to family owned and operated business Meyer Timber, in Dandenong South. They roster him on for shorter trips so he’s never too far from his son at home.
“They’re such beautiful people, I could never thank them enough. They look after their staff really well. Most of my runs are only up to 14 kilometres out,” said Peter.
His UD only recently ticked over the one-million-kilometre mark and has served Peter very well. However, back in May 2022, he realised it was time to replace the gearbox.
“It still had the original gearbox and by that point it had done 970,000 kilometres,” said Peter. “One day I got out and could smell oil so I got under the truck and checked everything. I went to my local mechanic and he agreed the bearing was about to go. I had a gearbox at home so asked if one of his mechanics could fit it for me on the weekend so I could keep on working. They got it done for me on a Saturday – they did that for me in good faith,” explained Peter.
That gearbox was purchased at the same time that Peter purchased his truck. “I bought the truck off a mechanic. He was selling three identical trucks. The one I chose had a pallet with a gearbox on it, brakes drums and a compressor. He said that gearbox would fit all three of those trucks, so I bought it and kept it in the garage as a back up,” he said.
“I’m assuming the guy who sold it to me thought it was the right one too because the gearbox looks the same.”
Peter was then shocked to receive four speeding fines over the next 11 months.
“When I received that fourth fine, I was really crook on myself for getting it. I was doing 50km/h on the speedo but the police officer nabbed me at 63-64km/h on the radar.
“I went around the block and saw one speed limit sign was right up against a parked truck so you couldn’t see it, and then another sign was pulled out of the ground. I thought well that explains why I didn’t see the speed signs.”
But as it turned out, there was more to it. “I knew something wasn’t right so I went to my mechanic the next week and asked if he had any equipment to see how accurate the speedo is. He took the truck for a drive and realised the speedo was over 10 per cent out.”
Trying to get to the bottom of the issue with his mechanic, they looked up the gearbox’s VIN number and realised it actually came from a smaller truck – and therein lied the problem.
“The transmission came out of a truck with 17.5-inch wheels, and I’ve got 22-inch wheels, so you need different ratios to even it all out,” added Peter.
Determined to prove his innocence, Peter set out to fight his loss of licence in court. His first two court dates however had to be adjourned and with very good reason. Peter had to take PJ to hospital for treatment on a brain cyst.
Thankfully Peter was able to keep his licence as he awaited the trial.
Peter spent $7000-8000 in legal expenses and on costly independent testing of the gearbox through accredited engineering agency ATTAR. It was money he had been saving for future funeral expenses for himself and his son.
“ATTAR found that my speedo was actually 18 per cent out. Before you go to court, you see a police prosecutor. I showed up with a five-page folder with the test results and it’s a bit disappointing that he wouldn’t even look at it.
“I’ve been driving for 48 years with no accidents. And there were a couple of times I went to the courthouse with PJ. He’s that sick that he can’t grow hair. He’s so skinny that the tops of his legs are probably the size of your wrists and then here they are trying to take my licence away.
“More than losing my job, what worried me the most was not being able to bring PJ around in the van. I take him to all of his appointments and he looks forward to me being there with him.”
After a two-and-a-half year legal battle and all of the stress that came with it, it wasn’t until the Herald Sun shared a story about Peter’s case last month, that it was finally dropped. “The day after that story went online, I got a phone call from my lawyer saying this will be withdrawn tomorrow,” Peter said, relieved by the news. “My lawyer had just gotten off the phone with the prosecutor who said I wouldn’t have to appear in court. I’m still on cloud nine thinking how lucky I am. But fighting for it probably took 10 years off my life.”
With the case now behind him, Peter can get on with the most important things in his life – being there for his son.
“PJ is a really happy chap. We feed off each other and we don’t let each other get too down. I reckon my son is a fourth generation truckie. PJ loves watching Outback Truckers and I always get copies of Big Rigs for him to look at. He can’t read it but he likes looking at all the pictures.”
As Peter and PJ have proven time and time again, they continue to overcome the hurdles that are thrown their way – “Against all odds.”