HGV driver

I’m an HGV driver because…

"It’s something I’ve always wanted to do – I sold my car to do the training. It took two months to  complete my training with one-to-one support from a fantastic instructor. I now make deliveries to supermarkets, hauling about 44 tons – and my double decker trailer is 16ft high. 

I’m profoundly deaf and wear a hearing aid. I use British Sign Language as my main form of communication and I also lip-read well. I don’t experience any difficulties when I’m driving – I use my eyes rather than my ears.

The office contacts me by text message and I pull over to read the instructions. Many depots have flashing alarms, although delivery gates usually only have an audio intercom. I wave so they know it’s me and then they open the gate automatically. 

Recently I went travelling in Asia and learned how to scuba dive. My diving instructor loved learning sign language and I saw many amazing creatures including a manta ray, turtle and black tip shark!"

Joe Emmanuel