Rob Miners
Robert Miners was born into a trucking family in September 1961, with his father and grandfather both truck drivers it was inevitable that he was going to follow in his idol's footsteps and take on the trucking industry first hand. Growing up, it was his one and only pure passion, which still to this date hasn't changed.
Rob's first driving job was through a local Illawarra Company known as DMKT, which his father Jim also worked for at the time, driving Kenworths and Volvo's transporting steel and bricks ex Port Kembla to Newcastle and interstate.
After a few years and a substantial amount of experience under his belt for such a young age, Rob and his wife Leanne decided to branch out on their own with 'Miners Transport' starting off with the purchase of their first truck, a N10 Volvo. Sub-contracting for Kenco Transport Sunshine carting rubber products to Sydney, Brisbane and South Australia Bridgestone Depots.
As the years went on they expanded to a fleet of six vehicles transporting a variety of products such as produce and steel up and down the east coast of Australia, with his wife Leanne taking control of the Administration side of the business as well as looking after two small infants, Kristy-lee born in 1991 and Robbie Junior born in 1994. Occasionally when Leanne got the chance she would go for trips with Rob and be his two-up driver, to gain some experience driving the big rigs, which she also enjoyed.
Miners Transport was a very family orientated business which was built up of not 'employees' but passionate hard workers with strong friendships. Employees that became close mates and mates that became family. In 1998, after a few accidents within the business and much deliberation, Rob and Leanne decided to sell up and venture on to something different. For about two years Rob worked casually for a few different local Illawarra companies such as Heggies and Metal Transport Industries until in mid 2000 Rob was approached by Bob Hornby to become a driver for Hornby Transport Services.
There, with a fleet of four at the time Rob started driving permanently for Hornby's until he introduced the bulk tippers to the company, which then got him promoted to Supervisor, and then again to Operations Manager.
In 2007, after obtaining several contracts and seeing how successful the business was becoming, both Bob and Adam Hornby asked Rob to become the third owner of Hornby Transport Services. Shortly after, they purchased the tipper side of Metal Transport Industries and went from a fleet of eight to 30 overnight. This was a milestone for the company and its owners. The Company has only grown and become more successful since then with now in 2014 having two depots both in Unanderra and Newcastle, with 20 permanent sub-contractors, a fleet of 50 vehicles and 78 trailers with a number of major contracts transporting Bulk Products Australia wide. Rob's wife Leanne is now a permanent driver for the business with his daughter Kristy-Lee in Administration. She recently obtained her HR Licence and wishes to continue in her parent's footsteps.
Rob's passion for the industry has only grown with time and if you were to ask him today what he loves he wouldn't have to think twice as his response would be and is the same every time I really love my job. He lives and breathes his work so much that it really isn't a job to him, it's more of a lifestyle. It's safe to say that he will go out doing not only his late Father Jim but the entire Transport Industry Proud.