Talented Mansfield teen gets behind the wheel of an HGV truck

A Mansfield teenager has taken to the wheel of a huge HGV as one of the youngest truckers in the country.
R Holly Porter, Antony Parkes and Paul PearsonR Holly Porter, Antony Parkes and Paul Pearson
R Holly Porter, Antony Parkes and Paul Pearson

It’s not the usual dream car that the average 19 year-old wishes for, but Antony Parkes loves the new £90k top-of-the-range Renault range T truck that his bosses at Freelance UK Ltd have just bought.

Antony of Glossop Avenue is amongst just two per cent of large truck drivers in the UK under 25 and already extremely competent in his boss’s opinion.

Holly Porter, Director at Freelance UK, said: “Antony is already a very competent driver, who compliments our excellent team perfectly.

“There is a real shortage of young people within the industry.

“Many companies won’t invest in young talent, but it is our opinion that if we don’t invest in training young people, then our pool of drivers will just dry up.”

According to his driving instructor as far as he is aware Antony was the youngest in the country to pass his HGV class 1 licence.

Antony has always been around trucks, constantly going to Freelance at the Boughton Industrial Estate in Ollerton, at weekends or during the holidays with his dad Gene, since he was eight years old.

When he left school the team jumped at the chance to nurture his enthusiasm. He began a mechanical apprenticeship with Freelance and at 16 the company put him through his specialist HGV driver training to earn his Class 1 licence as well as specialist licenses for access equipment .

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