Harling The Trucker

Raised in York as the youngest of five, Harling grew up in a business-focused family that valued entrepreneurship and independence. Learning to drive at the age of six, he absorbed both the mechanics of vehicles and the mechanics of commerce, often accompanying his father in the family business. His early life was shaped by both privilege and adversity: the loss of an elder brother to suicide, his mother’s near-fatal illness, and his own undiagnosed neurodiversity,  later confirmed as dyslexia, ADHD, and high-functioning autism.

After leaving school at 16, Harling gained real-world experience in the agricultural and commercial cleaning industries before earning his HGV licence in 1984 through RTITB. This was just before the abolition of the levy system under the Thatcher government, an experience that exposed him early to the consequences of abrupt policy changes and insufficient driver preparation. Near misses in his early driving years shaped his lifelong commitment to graduated licensing and safety reform.

Harling’s professional life evolved beyond the cab. He built successful careers in direct sales and telecommunications, pioneering mobile phone sales in York in 1985, before local coverage even existed. His various leadership roles in major projects, included a joint project with Barclay’s that involved the beta testing of the anti fraud procedures prior to the national rollout of the three-digit CVV code now found on the back of all bank cards. All of this deepened his understanding of human behaviour, communication, and system change.

However, frequent burnout and misdiagnosed depression eventually led Harling to explore meditation and wellness practices, returning to truck driving part-time for balance. His eventual diagnosis of neurodiversity in 2020 reframed decades of lived experience and clarified his calling: to advocate for drivers, improve mental health, and reform the structural issues undermining road safety.

In 2011, he successfully campaigned against the outdated 40 mph speed limit for lorries on single carriageways. Following his own prosecution for exceeding the limit at the infamous camera on the A15 managed by the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, his campaign, later featured on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show, helped lead to the 2015 law change increasing the limit to 50 mph.

Today, Harling continues to run a utilities business while continuing to support the campaign for improved HGV driver health & wellbeing. His current mission is to reduce HGV road fatalities through improved HGV Driver education. Being tough on the problems but kind on the people involved.