1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 
P USED VEHICLES
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Paralysed trucker to hit the road again
NEARLY TWO YEARS after a work-related accident left him paralysed from the waist down, owner-driver Richard Dover will return to the open road, thanks to Volvo Trucks.
Volvo Trucks has set up a leasing agreement for a second-hand 2007-registered 6x2 FH480 Globetrotter from the former Innovate Logistics fleet.
The manufacturer will be handing over the vehicle at TruckFest 2010 In Peterborough on Monday 3 May.
"I had a smile on my face from ear-to-ear," reveals Dover, after being told of the news.
Peter Groome, Volvo Trucks director of used trucks, says: "He put forward a good business proposition and we were able to make a deal."
Di Vinc Mobility, based in Liverpool, will do the conversion work in order to get Dover into the cab vta a winch and lift in a wheelchair.
Dover is in the final stages of securing work.
In January 2008, Dover fell from the top of his tanker trailer and woke to find himself in a Middlesbrough hospital with his pelvis and spinal cord crushed.
At the time of the accident, Dover was running two trucks — the culmination of 33 years as an owner-driver. He took inspiration from two other disabled drivers. Brian Rigg and Stephen Davidson.
He says: "They visited me in hospital and helped to get me motivated. I started to use computers to look for help."
Dover kept his 0-licence and started contacting organisations, but found obtaining funding more difficult than he imagined.
He explains: "Everywhere you go, they say: We aren't lending at the moment'. I was stonewalled at most places," • Commercial Motor will give Richard Dover's new truck a proper road test in a forthcoming issue,