Josh Hart is “over the moon” to have a spectacular new Western Star truck and trailer emblazoned with antibullying messages
Josh and his pink truck deliver hope L
IKE MOST OTHER YOUNG TRUCKIES, JOSH HART IS RAPT WITH having been given a brand-new Western Star to drive. Unlike most other 24-year-olds though, he’s even more stoked that the FXC 4800 6x4 tipper is pretty in pink….and its bulk bin is emblazoned with anti-bullying and mental health messages. How come? Simple: Josh was bullied unmercifully throughout his school years – the torment pushing him to the edge of suicide at the age of 12… It wasn’t until he left school at 16 and started driving an old R-Model Mack, doing off-highway work for his Mum and Dad’s bulk tipper operation, that he truly found his happy place. It gave him a new-found confidence – and a desire to put his own awful experience to good use… helping to steer other bullying victims towards the help they need.
Two years ago, that campaign began spectacularly – when Debbie and Barry Hart got Josh’s old Western Star repainted pink (the universal colour of the anti-bullying movement), and had the bins on the truck and trailer unit signwritten with anti-bullying messages. New Zealand Truck & Driver wrote a story about the Harts’ eyecatching pink truck and Josh’s harrowing back-story….and he reckons that, in the 28 months since, the truck has been a conversation-starter with an untold number of people about bullying…as well as being a mobile anti-bullying billboard. Bold signwriting on the truck and trailer bins carries powerful messages: “Bullying Stops Here!... Together we can make a difference….. Kindness is one size fits all…. Speak up. Stand together. Stop bullying.” It has got him onto tv and into other magazines and newspapers,
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