Autistic trucker who thought he’d never drive clocks up 500,000 road miles

As a schoolboy, Stuart Harvey doubted he’d pass his driving test — let alone make a living transporting heavy loads across Britain.

Laughed at by classmates, he feared that he would not be able to get any job or even ‘survive in the world at all’ because of the condition. 

But Stuart followed a family tradition by taking up the role nearly a decade ago. He now drives his articulated lorry, Road Runner — which has a maximum road-going weight of 44 tonnes — on shifts of up to 12 hours. 

The haulier, who has high-level Asperger’s, a form of autism, qualified as a Class 1 HGV driver in 2019 and loves being behind the wheel.  

Yet speaking to mark World Autism Month, the 30-year-old said people on the spectrum are chronically under-represented in the haulage industry.

‘My expectations as a kid were really the view that I would never be able to pass a driving test, get a job or survive in the world at all, as is the unfortunate view of some people in 21st Century society,’ he said.

‘This was mainly down to the 1990s British attitude which was that of, “autistic people don’t do any kind of dangerous or driving work”.

‘My message to those people now is, “who says Aspies can’t drive? I can, I’m right here, and proving you all wrong”.’  

Stuart, from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, dreamed of following in the footsteps of his dad and granddad by becoming a trucker.

Aged 12, he was pictured by his dad, Andrew, smiling behind the wheel of one of the motor enthusiast’s two trucks at the family home where he still lives with his parents and younger brother.

Stuart’s grandfather drove heavy vehicles during the Second World War and continued after the hostilities, including for the fire service.

But he was laughed at in primary school when he told his class that his ambition was to become a trucker.  

Undeterred, he passed his car test in 2012, motorcycle test in 2013, and HGV Classes 1 and 2 in 2019.

‘I feel that the reason people laughed at me was not just because I was autistic, but also because driving work was considered unpopular when I was at school,’ Stuart said.

‘The school prided itself more on high grades, rather than focusing on teaching kids about practical and skilled jobs overall, so jobs like driving and haulage weren’t seen as career options. 

‘So for someone like myself, aka the most unpopular kid in the class, truck driving was seen as a step too far.

‘The attitude of the time was that autistic children didn’t have career choices, let alone sitting at the wheel of a nearly fifty-tonne piece of metal travelling down a major motorway at nearly 60mph.

‘I feel that this is a great failure of the educational system overall.  

‘Even now, more is prided on theoretical than practical education, which is another blow to the haulage industry as it doesn’t give those in schools role models to look up to.’ 

Stuart estimates that since 2014 when he began driving vans he has clocked up nearly 500,000 miles — not including his journeys riding all over the UK on his motorcycle and in other vehicles. 

In 2019. he moved up to rigid lorries before doing articulated work, driving throughout Covid and the transportation crisis brought about by a shortage of drivers. Rather than being a barrier to life on the road, Asperger’s has given the haulier a ‘hyper-focus’ and he has previously spoken about how he uses a ‘mind map’ to navigate routes.

Yet despite such exceptionalities figures show that autistic people – who find it hard to communicate with others or struggle with unfamiliar situations – face high rates of unemployment.

Stuart doesn’t know of anyone else with the spectrum condition in the profession, which has a shortfall of up to 100,000 drivers, according to the Road Haulage Industry. 

‘I feel very strongly that autistic people are still far outside the range of being accepted into the trucking and driving industry as a whole, because employers and society still expect speed over anything else.’ he said.

‘Without sounding too egotistical, I feel very strongly that autistic people would make the best and ideal drivers for any kind of driving industry, especially HGV work, because of their attention to detail, their hyper-focus, their ability to see things differently to other people.

‘Another hurdle I’ve crossed is having the opportunity to train new drivers, which I’ve never been able to do before.

‘It really made me feel at home with my company to know that they felt comfortable with me doing the training.’ 

Last week, Metro.co.uk told how Harvey Smith, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder, had overcome his ‘biggest barrier’ by landing a place at university to study medicine.  

At one point, the 18-year-old also felt his chosen career might be beyond him, but drew inspiration from a TV doctor and was supported by social mobility tech company Zero Gravity to achieve the grades and pass a university’s selection interview.

Stuart feels that devoting April to autism awareness is helping to shatter myths and bring positive stories into the light. He has embraced having Asperger’s, a term used to describe autistic people with average or above average intelligence, and the ‘Aspie truckers’ mantle used in the US. 

‘Having a whole month devoted to autism alone is fantastic,’ Stuart said.  

‘Especially when most other conditions only get a day, or a week at the most to be known to the wider world. Its impact can be so far and wide, that it shatters the myth that some people have that autism is just something found in a care home, or out of sight in our everyday society.’ 

Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk

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