Road haulage has been in existence for as long as roads themselves: wherever goods need to be moved across land, people have set themselves up in business to carry those goods. For hundreds of years horses were at the center of this business, but in the twentieth century everything changed, first with the widespread use of steam power on the roads, and then the internal combustion engine.

The lorry driver was a new, hardy breed, working phenomenally long hours in all weathers and with few of the comforts afforded to today's truckers. Drivers needed to be able to maintain their own...