Josh Hart, the winner of the 2021 Top Truck NZ Award promoted by New Zealand Trucking magazine, has received a set of 8 retreaded tyres from Vipal courtesy of Power Retreads, Vipal’s dealer in New Zealand.
Anti-Bullying Campaigner Wins Key Award
Hart, who drives for family-owned haulage company Hart Haulage, is an anti-bullying protagonist who prints anti-bullying messages on the side of his truck to promote his campaigns. He had a trajectory of difficult experiences when he was younger, with a traumatic history of having been bullied and many difficulties while attending school.
It was at the age of 16 that he found his way into the truck cabin, diving headlong into the family business. He started driving in rural areas and, at the age of 18, went for class 4 and 5 licenses to become a professional driver. "The trucks and the transportation segment saved my life. I laugh now when I think of some of the comments from some of my teachers at school, telling me that there is no money in looking out the window,” he said. “And here I am now earning more than them, looking out the window.”
Hart used his experiences to try to help other people who suffer from the same problem he went through. The inspiration for painting his truck pink came when he met the anti-bullying movement of the pink T-shirt, initiated in 2007 by two high school students in Nova Scotia. After receiving the new colour and the messages ‘Spread kindness, bullying stops here’ on the truck's sides, the impact was immediate. People started calling, wanting to know where to get help, sharing stories about bullying, and helping create a movement to offer support to people with the same type of personal experience.
For Dijan Rigo, Commercial Coordinator of Vipal in Oceania, Hart’s story is really inspiring. “We were very happy when we learned about Josh's story and that he was chosen as the winner of the Top Truck Award. Our partnership with Power Retreads is very solid in New Zealand, and we can only thank the company and carriers for their trust in our products," he said. "Much deservedly, Josh now has a retreaded tyre kit with the quality of Vipal Rubber treads to continue spreading a message of hope and positivity on the country's roads,” he concluded.
