“I don’t need a GPS or a map, I have everything in my head”: the 90-year-old trucker who refuses to retire and enter the Guinness World Records

Brian Wilson, 90, is certainly one of the active truckers oldest in the world.

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And, after more than 70 years on the road, he still has no plans to put on the parking brake.

Brian doesn’t even care about having a GPS. He does have a road atlas, although he says it’s from “about 40 years” and that he keeps it in the trunk of his car anyway.

“I don’t need a GPS or a map,” he says, “everything is up here.” She smiles and taps her temple to reinforce the point.

We’re sitting in the cab of Brian’s 1993 truck. Alongside the modern Scania trucks lined up at this logistics estate outside Sheffield, England, yours stands out.

The gear lever is taped up, the upholstery has seen better days, and it smells of cigarettes.

According to Guinness World Recordsthe oldest man with a license to drive heavy vehicles is the British Jack Fisher, aged 88 years and four days, as of January 27, 2021.

Brian has been invited by Guinness World Records to stand for recognition as the world’s longest-living HGV driver.

But Brian has been invited to make his own claim on the registry by submitting proof of age and occupation. “I don’t really think about it,” he says. “I just go out to work.”

If he’s just being modest or practical, it’s hard to tell.

Impossible not to work

A pack of 20 cigarettes, a lighter, a copy of the Daily Mirror and rags fill the space between our seats.

“I get restless when I’m not working,” he says.

Brian shows me some pictures as we take a trip down memory lane, from when he was a young soldier to his 90s.

There is a picture of you on vacation. He is sitting at a table, reading a newspaper. He doesn’t look like a man on vacation.

“Two or three days without working, doing nothing, and I’ve had enough,” he says. “I have to be doing something. I always want to go back to work“.

In the trucking industry, it’s known as “an original.” While others rely on buckled lashing straps to secure loads, Brian prefers the old-fashioned way, using ropes and sheets.

It is an art that is dying, he tells me.

Brian credits his uncle with teaching him to drive at 16, though his military career in the 1950s undoubtedly sharpened his skills.

Brian photographed during his service in the British Army. / BRIAN WILSON

In the 1960s, after a stint delivering gasoline for Esso, Brian joined his father Edward’s trucking company: E. Wilson & Son.

Today he owns the family business, which mainly transports steel springs.

“Every Thursday I get up at four o’clock, ready to leave the house at a quarter past five,” he narrates.

Brian breaks down his “drops” for the day. “Leicester, Tamworth, Redditch, Birmingham, Telford (…) I will do about 300 miles” (almost 500 kilometers).

the distant retirement

Brian is a man of few words, and he makes them count. His attitude softens when I see his wedding ring.

“We’ve been married for 67 years,” he says with a smile. “I was 15 years old when Mavis and I met at a fair.”

He shows me a photograph with his partner taken on their ruby ​​wedding anniversary, that is, four decades together. “He still takes care of all of us,” she says.

Brian may be like his mother, Gertrude, who lived to be 102 years old.

Like his truck, Brian has to go through a full health check every year, with the next one due before Christmas.

Brian and Mavis Wilson on their Ruby Wedding Anniversary. / BRIAN WILSON

If his GP deems him fit for work, Brian intends to continue for at least another year before considering retirement.

“It also depends on how my wife is,” he adds.

Other carriers speak highly of it.

Back in the cab of his truck, Brian acknowledges that there will be some who believe, at 90, that he’s too old to drive a car, let alone a truck.

“I know, I know,” he says, looking out the window. “But I’ll know when the time is right.”

“It’s a draw who will retire first,” he adds, “if the truck or me.”

Source: Elcomercio