George Pyers

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2013.
George Pyers was born with one arm but this did not deter him from doing anything he wanted during his childhood.  It also did not stop him from getting a car licence but, when he enquired about acquiring a truck licence, he was told that he could not because of his disability. George wrote to the Commissioner of Police to plead his case and was informed that if he was able to pass the test there was no reason he could not become a licensed truck driver.

Test time came; it was the first day of private testers and although George was given one of the hardest tests possible he passed it with flying colours and proudly accepted his licence.

At the time there was a driving job on offer with a local fuel company but when George applied in person the boss took one look at him and told George he was sorry but with one arm the answer had to be no
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A mate then talked George into buying his own truck and he looked into purchasing a tipper with work but a new one was too much money for him to outlay. George was not going to give up and found an old International AS 182 at the back of a shed.  It had a Perkins motor and was fitted with a six yard tipper body. He decided then and there to buy it and now declares it was the best thing he ever did
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For a time George worked with a friend who carted to the Westgate Freeway for Pioneer. While there George put a semi tipper on the back of his International. Once finished at Westgate he worked on the natural gas pipeline from Melbourne to Geelong and then joined TNT who had a contract with Angliss Meat Works in Footscray.
 
George had to swap his semi tipper for a 34 foot bogie flat top trailer and carted meat hides and skins to the wharf.  In 1980, still with TNT, he purchased a C-line International with a 160 Cummins which he eventually replaced with an old Perkins motor. He used this on trips to Canberra hauling a forty foot tri-axle trailer with general.

When TNT closed George went casual for Norman Carriers and then to Hoffmans carting empty containers.  Unfortunately his right arm began to give him trouble and the doctor advised him to retire which he did in January 2000.