Truck convoy after the suicide of drivers Mark Haines and Tom Seccombe

A Coffs Harbour truck driver has spoken of the solitary nature of the job and how it can put a strain on your mental health.

Khai​ Townsend, Ian Roper and Tim Cooper. Picture: Janine Watson

A Coffs Harbour truck driver has spoken of the solitary nature of the job and how it can put a strain on your mental health.

Ian Roper has been a truck driver for 33 years and still loves his job but says you have a lot of time to think.

“It’s hard to talk to people because you are in your truck all day,” Mr Roper said

“You think of something in the morning and by the end of the day it’s a big deal because you have all this time to over analyse things.”

Mr Roper says the recent suicides of fellow Coffs Harbour truck drivers Mark Haines and Tom Seccombe has reminded him to reach out when times get tough.

“As truckies we keep things bottled up all the time. I’ve struggled with depression at times. You’ve got to reach out to close mates.”

Call to Lifeline saved his life

Ian ‘Eno’ Taylor, also knew Mark Haines and Tom Seccombe.

He was the driving force behind the recent truck convoy and the Grinding Gears and Burning Diesel fundraiser which has raised over $15,000 for the development of a mental health campaign designed specifically for truck drivers.

The mental health campaign will feature Eno in a series of videos, truck talks over the trucking network, and a series of face-to-face sessions. It is being developed in close collaboration with Lifeline.

Photos: Convoy in memory of Mark Haines and Tom Seccombe

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Eno has been a truck driver on and off for 13 years and has had his own battles with depression. He said if it wasn’t for a call to Lifeline many years ago, he would not be here today, “paying it forward” and helping to bring the topic out into the open.

“I was in Sydney at the time, and it was a horrific moment in a park, and I was ready to end it all, but I made a phone call to Lifeline and because of that phone call I’m still here.”

Incredible response to truck convoy

On Saturday morning more than 100 trucks gathered at Woolgoolga and travelled in convoy to the Coffs Harbour Showground where families and friends gathered to remember not only Mark and Tom but so many others in what is often a lonely profession.

In just a few days the word got around and people gathered on overpasses or waved from the side of the road with the convoy ending at the Coffs Harbour Showgrounds.

Eno knew Mark Haines particularly well and said he didn’t see the warning signs.

“He was purchasing a property off me at Glenreagh and the contracts were all signed and in ten days it would have settled and all been his.”

Lifeline CEO Miko Smith was at the event and was asked if he’d ever seen anything like it before.

“Not a movement this strong and this quick, no I haven’t.”

He said truck drivers are often forgotten in our society.

Many had stories of the solitary lifestyle of a truck driver and how that can impact your mental health.

You can call Lifeline on 13 11 14