Castrol Truck Driver Hero

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

LIKE 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,

Josh poses with a group from GirlBoss NZ – an organisation created to empower young women “to lead and change the world.” He talked to them about standing strong and being a leader

talking about bullying. He’s been invited to truck shows and car shows, and he’s talked to kids at schools.

And every working day, he says, it has triggered conversations – very often with other truckies: “My goal is always to help one or two people…and I do that most days.

“I have people come up to me and say ‘oh you’re the guy with the pink truck – oh cool.’ And then they’ll just start talking – and it’s pretty special. I love it mate.

“Sometimes all people need is to sit down and talk for a little bit – to help give themselves a little bit of perspective. And the fact that I can be a part of that…is pretty cool.

“A lot of the time it’s truck drivers, or family of truck drivers. One of my favourite ones was out at the Z at the top of Bombays: I parked up there to grab a V – and I ended up sitting around for half an hour talking to the daughter of one of the truck drivers that had pulled in.

“She was struggling with a few things – and she saw my truck and she came running over and started talking to me about, you know, different things that were going on.

“I stood there talking to her and her old man – and it started that conversation, and they were stoked.”

That’s the thing, Josh is keen to point out: He’s a conversation starter – not (except in a few situations) the person who can personally help each one of them.

He listens, shares his experience…and advises them to turn to people around them for help. To talk to their families, their friends, counsellors, their workmates or whoever is closest.

It’s heartfelt advice – that he learnt the truth of the hard way: “I used to get beat up – a lot of physical and a huge amount of mental. I got to some dark places because of it. I kept everything away from my family to begin with. For whatever reason, I decided to try and fight through it myself.

He would tell his disbelieving Mum and Dad that the bruises came from accidents: “I would say I walked into a wall, fell down stairs – I’d come up with any excuse to defend anyone else.

“The way bullying is, you get to the stage where you think YOU’VE caused it…. you blame yourself before you blame anyone else for what they’re doing to you.”

So then the mental damage adds to the physical bullying: “I thought ‘I’ve obviously done something wrong to this person to get them to do it.’ Initially, it starts with ‘what am I doing to cause it?’ And then after, when it becomes continual, you’re like ‘well clearly, breathing, or living, or talking is causing the problem!’ It very quickly becomes mental. It’s a tough bug to deal with.”

But, says Josh: “It wasn’t until I was about eight or nine that I turned around to my parents and said that something wasn’t quite right. And that was when the whole family did what they could to help.”

The Harts got him into Taekwon-Do when he was at primary school. They talked to his teachers…and his headmasters. They moved him to different schools – and even went to the police.

Finally, leaving school was his catalyst for change – “when I started fulltime and getting into the trucking community, that was when it went from a little light, or a little torch….to literally the high beams of the truck.

“I realised how communal everyone is in this industry: They get

The Hart family with Josh’s old Bullying Stops Here! Western Star. Josh says his family – (from left) Josh, Mum Debbie, sister Jessie and Dad Barry – were always there for him….it just took him years to realise it

behind you to make sure you’re alright, whereas at school that was not the case.”

And now, since Debbie and Barry surprised him with the brandnew Western Star in early June, the truck and its similarly messageladen five-axle Transfleet trailer are allowing Josh to ramp up his personal efforts to stop other kids being hurt, even destroyed, by bullying.

The new truck and his old Western Star, which is still in the Hart Haulage fleet, are tools for this work: “Without the trucks, we wouldn’t be pulling the people in. Dad’s always said and I agree – ‘trucks are the moving billboards of the world.’ ”

The brand-new unit bears the messages: “Spread Kindness…. Bullying Stops Here/Together We Can Make a Difference….” And “I Am Hope.”

Says Josh: “To have what’s on the side of it and have it stand out the way it does….is just absolutely amazing. I’m still over the moon. I can’t look at it and not have a smile on my face.”

And to anyone who thinks he’s already taking on a heavy load in using his own experience being bullied to help others, he says this: “I’m 24 and people say to me, ‘shit that’s a burden to take on.’

“But it’s not a burden. Definitely, I’m super-proud to be able to do what I do and have people share their stories. For me that’s absolutely amazing – to have people trust me enough to be able to open up.

“Yeah it can definitely get quite emotional because you see and can hear and feel the pain in people’s voices and their stories. And to hear stories of loved ones who they’ve lost or things that they’ve struggled with over the last few years, it can be (and it often is) very, very emotional.

“But it makes me really proud because they always finish it off by saying to me, you know, ‘I’ve been more open with family or friends after seeing you on tv, or reading about you in the magazine…’

“And they were then starting the conversation as well – they were opening up to their families and it was making a difference. It was helping people. That for me is where the emotion really hits.

“I was lucky enough when you guys first contacted us: It was an opportunity to spread a message that effected a lot of people. To me it’s never been a burden because it was a thing I had to learn to fight against myself: Yes, I had a support network there – I just never learnt to rely on them.

“And to have an opportunity to say to people: ‘It’s actually not that bad to turn around to your support network and rely on them’ –

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Above left: Proud as he is of his new Western Star, Josh is even more excited about its ability to attract more attention for the antibullying movement Above right: Over the past two years Josh has been in demand from truck and car show organisers, youth groups and schools to turn up and talk about his anti-bullying campaign. Here he’s talking to a group of students at an Auckland school

and have an opportunity for people to accept and believe that, to me was even better.

“To have someone turn around and say ‘well, if he was able to get up in front of people…’ Or ‘if he was able to share it in a magazine or on tv or on radio or whatever – if this kid’s been able to stand up, then there’s no reason why I can’t talk to my family about it.’

“Like for me it’s not a burden – it’s humbling that people have enough trust in me that they’re able to come to me and I’m actually able to say to them: ‘Honestly, as much as I’d love to help you, your family, your friends, your support network are the ones that can actually and will actually help you.

“Everyone knows that it’s not a small thing – it’s not something that’s gonna take just a couple of days to get away from….”

He concedes that sometimes he does get emotionally involved, “to a degree: In that I still struggle with not only my own damage but there are some times where I guess I take other people’s onboard as well….which has always been my personality.

“However, in saying that, I am a lot better with it. Like I know I need to compartmentalise it and not let it effect me as much.”

And mostly it’s all about “being able to actually help push people in the right direction for them. Whether it’s to have that conversation with their families – who will always be a much better support network for them….. Or to push them towards speaking to a counsellor or a friend.

“You know, I’ve been there for a few people. But I’m also learning to make sure I’m sending them to the right places as well. Because, as much as I want to, I can’t help everybody. But everybody who’s asking for help deserves help.”

He remembers that in his case, “it was good to know that it was pretty normal for people to rally around you, especially if they know how bad you are. But you’ve got to share a bit to get the support.”

For him, for instance, Josh stresses that there is no “one size fits all” solution. There have been and still are, he says, many people who have offered good advice and help throughout his journey: “There’s been many ladders to help get me out of my black hole.”

He credits a couple of close friends who asked “what the hell are you doing?” And, of course, his family for the fact that “I no longer have the world on my shoulders.

“And it takes time. A counsellor said: ‘You may not be ready now, but you will be at some stage – and when you are, you’ll find someone with an open door.

“Not everyone gets through. I literally ran towards a friend on a bridge trying to talk to him, but…’ ”

Similarly, tragically, “a mate of mine’s brother shared with me about his son who’d been bullied so long he could no longer take it anymore and took his own life. It was the most heartbreaking thing

The new Western Star is a standout billboard for promoting kindness, the utter unacceptability of bullying and understanding and support of people suffering mental health issues

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Josh is “humbled” that people – who recognise him “as the guy with the pink truck” – will come straight up to him and talk to him about their challenges. The response to him speaking up and making a stand with the truck has been overwhelmingly positive, he says

I’ve ever heard.”

On the other hand, he hears of many, many more heartening stories: “So many stories that come through. And so many changes that people have made to their own lives – or have made to others…..because of the fact I was able to stand up and make a difference to them.”

The new Western Star has added the name of the mental health campaign group, I Am Hope, to its signwriting – and Josh Hart says that he sees I Am Hope founder, comedian Mike King, as “very much fighting for the same thing. Bullying, for a lot of people, leads into the Black Dog – and down the darker path of life.”

And like King, he’s been “pretty disappointed” at inadequate funding for mental health from the current Government: “I’m pretty gutted. I always struggled to get counselling when I needed it. There are other people out there who’ve gone through worse. Like, they definitely need help – but, unfortunately, it’s just not something that happens. It breaks my heart.”

The people who come to talk to him about bullying are, he says, across the age spectrum: “I’ve had everyone, from kids who’d still be at primary, to adults of retirement age – or heading toward it.

“Bullying happens to everybody. It’s not just at school – it happens at work. It’s disappointing…but I guess it’s just part of our culture at the moment.”

Wonder aloud just how many people Josh may have helped because of the impact of his truck and its messages, and he says he has no idea: “Ummmm – honestly I tried to track it at one point, but after about two weeks I gave up on it! I couldn’t dream of putting a number on it.”

The new truck and trailer unit signals a new push to get the Harts’ anti-bullying message spread even more widely…to more people.

Josh explains: “So many people want us all over the country…..and we’re trying to do everything we can to get to as many as we can.” The number of people who want him to turn up in the anti-bullying Western Star is, he reckons, “gobsmacking.”

So now Hart Haulage is working on piecing together enough work to get Josh and the pink truck and trailer unit on a regular nationwide run – so they can also meet the demand for them to deliver their “Spread Kindness” message.

Looking back over the past two and a bit years at the wheel of the pink Western Stars, Josh says the reaction within the industry “has been very positive. Any negative comments are met with a wave of positives.

“The funniest thing ever was a mate of mine jokingly called up on the CB and said ‘that truck’s a bit gay.’ I knew it was a joke…but the wave of nastiness towards him was just insane! ‘How dare you say that!’

“I can’t get through a day without guys calling up and saying ‘hey, good luck bro…. Well done mate.’ It’s so awesome. It’s not just the young guys either – it’s the old guys as well calling out their support for the truck.

“The positivity that has come through all of it has more than made up for the negatives I went through….” T&D