Ian “Red” Purtill

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2021.

Ian Leslie Purtill, known as ‘Red’ was born in Deniliquin, New South Wales in April 1956, the second son to Keith and Pat Purtill. He qualified as a chef at the Australia Hotel in Melbourne, Victoria before he joined his father’s business in 1976. K Purtill and Co operated the Caltex fuel depot in Deniliquin and school bus runs in surrounding towns.  Ian’s first job was driving a Bedford J3 truck, delivering heating oil around town. In 1978 he obtained his bus licence and started driving Bedford VAM, SB and OB  1948 - 1979 model buses on the school runs.

Ian also began driving a Mercedes Benz 1418 semi-truck for Deniliquin Freighters, carrying rice from the Deniliquin Rice Mill to the Geelong Port and backloading general freight. In 1979 Ian joined his first camping safari tour as the cook, working out of the boot of a mid-mounted coach with a roof rack. With the purchases of new and second-hand touring coaches from 1980 – 1986 Ian worked as a driver, touring Australia.  He sub-contracted with companies such as Expo Adventure Tours, Moonee Valley Bus Lines, Centralian Tours, Peaches Australian Tours, and Purtill’s Travel and Tours. By the bi-centennial year of 1988, Ian was the Operations Manager at Purtill’s Travel & Tours, overseeing more than 20 tours to Expo 88. Sadly, Ian’s father passed away during that year, at the age of just 59 years. 

Ian continued working as Purtill’s Operations Manager, and in 1994 he married Mary Petrie who had also worked as a cook in the travel Industry. By 1996 Ian had upgraded his skills and became a licensed driver-trainer for people seeking their car, bus and truck licences.

With three young children, Ian and Mary left the family business in 1999 to establish their own, TIMED Right Pty Ltd, in Albury, New South Wales. Ian purchased a second hand 1986 Landseer coach and also contracted his skills to the Wodonga TAFE as a Driver-Trainer of trucks, buses, cars and 4WD off-road vehicles. He also began the training and assessment of bus drivers working in hazardous snow areas. From 2006 Ian began the training and assessment of bus drivers working in the Kosciuszko National Park. As well, Ian trained drivers involved in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and had some involvement with similar preparations for the  2018 Commonwealth Games in Queensland. 

In 2018 Ian became the Human Resource Manager with Martin’s Albury Pty Ltd, a school, charter and touring bus firm and drives a school bus when needed. Although Ian is looking forward to retiring in the next few years, he plans to continue driving part-time for Martins and undertaking part-time training jobs.