Many of us whiled away our childhoods playing with dumper trucks and diggers.
But one 13-year-old has taken it to the next level – becoming one of the youngest people in the UK to be able to drive such heavy machinery in real life.
Jake Campbell, 13, is now qualified to drive an array of heavy vehicles, including a 30-tonne dumper truck, a quarry loading shovel and a telescopic forklift.
The Fraserburgh Academy pupil has always had an interest in machinery after starting to help out on his dad Scott’s farm at the age of four.
After getting the bug for farming, Jake asked if could help out at nearby Colaren Farms and Burnthill Quarry, near Fraserburgh, at weekends and school holidays.
The team at Colaren Farms there saw his interest and put the youngster through his training. He sat his exams through the Construction Industry Training Board, and is now delighted to be behind the wheel.
Jake Campbell a ‘bright young lad’ and ‘hard worker’
Colin Smith, managing director of Colaren Homes and Colaren Farms, said: “He is keen and enthusiastic to learn. He clearly has an interest in driving large vehicles and he’s very good at it. He’s a bright young lad and he’s a hard worker.”
With the average age of a heavy machinery driver in the UK being 57, Mr Smith is hoping other young people take a leaf out of Jake’s book and get qualified to drive them.
Due to there being no training facilities for young people to carry out their practical training at the Buchan firm, all is learned on the machinery at the firm’s construction site.
“We can put people through their theory side and carry out their safety awareness, but they will have no practical training, which can only be gained from experience,” Mr Smith said.
“We teach youngsters to drive cars and HGVs, and we can train them to be plumbers and electricians, but we don’t teach them to drive construction plant.”
‘Even more important that we ‘home grow’ our own construction workers’
Mr Smith said: “Since Brexit, it is now even more important that we “home grow” our own construction workers. We can’t just rely on workers from Europe, we need to train up our young people to make sure we have the next generations to work within the construction industry.
“Hopefully Jake’s story will send a message that we need to provide opportunities for young people to get experience of driving construction machinery.”
High-flying teens
Jake is not the first youngster to qualify to behind the controls of such heavy machinery.
In December, Jay Currie became the UK’s youngest dump truck driver at 13 – following in the footsteps of his brother and dad.
The teenager – who took his first test just days after his 12th birthday – snatched the record from his older brother, Jamie, who also gained his own red card qualification after he turned 13 in 2020.
Both brothers take after their dad, James, who is director of Currie Contractors Cullen Ltd.
And in February, 17-year-old George Walker, from Inverurie, gained his pilot’s licence – before even sitting his driving test.
He is now focusing on his dream of becoming a commercial pilot.
Conversation