“Before I was one driver among many others, today I am the fourth French truck driver in a wheelchair,” smiles Jérémy Soots, 31, at the wheel of his brand new heavy goods vehicle.
Seven years after a motorcycle accident which severed his spinal cord and left him paraplegic, Jérémy has finally reconnected with his lifelong passion: driving trucks.
“I started working as a truck driver when I was 18.
I never saw myself doing anything else,” says the young man, originally from Pas-de-Calais (62).
After a long period of coma and rehabilitation, Jérémy adapts to his new life in a wheelchair, without forgetting his vocation.
“It was a struggle of several years to find work.
I went around to the companies with a file showing them all the possible arrangements so that I could drive a truck independently, but they all told me: “that’s great, but not for us”.”
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Jérémy does not give up, however, and ends up meeting in 2022, David Sagnard, boss of Transports Carpentier in Calais.
Together, they set up a project to buy and equip a heavy goods vehicle adapted to Jérémy's disability.
Thanks to a lifting platform that allows him to get into his truck, steering wheel controls and a remote dumpster loading and unloading system, the driver was able to get back on the road last January.
“It was worth the wait,” Jérémy rejoices today.
Watch our report at the top of the article.