Perrys Fuel Distributors is one of the largest independently owned fuel distribution companies in South Australia, celebrating their 70th anniversary this year. The family-owned and operated business supplies a full range of fuel with all grades of diesel, unleaded and premium unleaded as well as lubricants, fuel storage and dispensing equipment. Providing over fifty retail sites across South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales, Perrys manage their fleet of delivery vehicles from mini-tankers to road trains. Perry’s has recently added another Volvo FH 540 into their fleet from the team at South Central Truck & Bus, as they looked for a vehicle that would suit all their work applications and provide the drivers with comfortable and safe truck to operate.
Being one of the highest sources of dangerous goods transported across Australia, it takes a lot of care, but primarily for the driver to feel confident in being safe in their equipment and in the work they do. Carrying a major responsibility in carting dangerous goods is something that Natalie Kascak, driver for Perrys Fuel Distributor’s is extremely proud to do so. Perrys Fuel Distributor’s driver Natalie Kascak is the only female fuel tanker driver in South Australia, who currently delivers to regional locations in the area and interstate with a road train combination. Perry’s are supportive of Nat with a focus on achieving a more equitable gender balance across the heavy vehicle driver workforce. Women in Trucking Australia (WiTA) have committed to support her and other female heavy vehicle drivers to deliver professionally assessed entry-level female drivers to industry employers to ensure the sector can safely meet the needs of the Australian road freight task.
For some time now, Nat has been driving a Volvo FH 600HP Globetrotter from South Central Truck & Bus and says, “it has all the creature comforts you need including a fridge, freezer, heated seats, plenty of storage and the interior of the tall cabin allows you to stand up and stretch without hitting your head.” It’s her home away from home! From behind the wheel of her Volvo FH, experiencing some of the longest on-road vehicles in the world, Nat says she enjoys an all-expenses paid tour of the nation transporting fuel supplies to remote outback roadhouses and farms in addition, to fuelling up enormous maritime vessels and trains. Nat says “Like food, fuel is a bare essential for survivability in the everyday world, It is a way of life, it is a lifestyle and for me, it is my institution.”
Nat is one of a handful of female MC fuel tanker drivers nationally. Across her twelve-year trucking career, Nat started from humbling beginnings in sorting freight, loading cages and stacking pallets and working her way up to driving double road trains for Perrys Fuel Distributors. Not one to sit still, after graduating from her degree in Paramedic Science, Natalie decided to choose a career completely out of her comfort zone and obtain her truck license. After experiencing the best of both worlds, Natalie decided to pursue her passion in the transport industry and is also a Director and Chairperson of WiTA and is passionate to encourage females to join her in the transport industry.
