The Life of Brian: Trucks, Challenges and a Touch of Globetrotting

From a young age, getting elbow-deep into fixing things has been the way of life for Scania UK’s Dundee-based technician, Brian McGibbon. There are few things in life that make him happier than taking on a mechanical challenge and fixing it. In fact, he relishes any challenge as it transpires.

Growing up in a household, where his dad was the go-to guy when anything needed fixing, repairing, or generally doing around the house, it was natural those skills would rub off, as he explains:

“It felt quite normal to be honest. From a young age, I was always annoying my dad because I was curious, and of course, I wanted to be like him too.

“It was a happy coincidence that we both ended up in the same industry, doing similar work. I do think he was proud of me for following him.

“You never realise at the time, but your parents are a big influence on you. Even now, with my son, he likes getting dirty fixing stuff with his wee toy toolkit. You don’t mean it to happen. It’s just the way it is.”

At the time it was curiosity that was the biggest driver behind Brian’s ambitions to emulate his father – from getting hands on, fixing cars, working on heavy duty vehicles, to exploring the world.

In other words, his dad was the prequel to the Life of Brian.

As a child, Brian was fascinated by the way things worked, and would often involve himself in what his dad was doing. However, there was one side of his father’s life he only caught glimpses of. That was what he did for a living.

His father worked as an HGV driver running loads across the UK, Europe and even to Saudi Arabia. After that he spent almost two decades working on recovering heavy-duty vehicles from the roadside. It was something that appealed to Brian, although he wasn’t enamoured with driving – only with fixing trucks.

After finishing school, it was pretty clear that Brian was going to become a technician, but it was the car world that had attracted his interests. He had developed a passion for tinkering with fast cars, again influenced by his father.

“When I was 21, I bought a Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth 4x4,” explains Brian. “I had it for nine days, and I blew it up. I then spent the next four years rebuilding it.

“I got into Fords, because of my dad. He was into rallying – he used to race a Mk1 Escort called Mr Bojangles. But when he bought, the ASBO, aka the Focus ST Mk2 – that was when I really started getting into mechanics.

“I enjoy tinkering with things. I wouldn’t say it was easy – I just found it comfortable. Half the challenge is getting it going again never mind anything else. I’ve always just figured that I can fix it.”

Struggling to catch a break in the car world, his father advised him to give heavy-duty vehicles a try, which would open up new opportunities. In 1999, Brian joined haulage contractor Harry Lawson, as an apprentice where he learnt the trade.

The move suited him. It gave him a solid foundation of knowledge to support his passion thanks to the hugely experienced team based there. This further cemented his understanding of trucks and combined with his natural curiosity – he was only going to excel.

“I got a good education into the haulage industry and beyond,” he says. “Every MOT, we would strip the brakes down and fix them, paint wheels and whatever else was needed.

“I was glad I got the time at a haulage contractor, as you could ask the more experienced guys – how they’ve come to a certain conclusion, and they would explain to you the whole process.”

After outgrowing Harry Lawson, Brian moved to Pullmans, where he worked on Tesco’s fleet of trucks and trailers.

At the time, he saw it as a way to spread his wings, but his curiosity to learn and fix things wasn’t being satisfied in the same way.

That’s when his father shared more valuable insight – ‘to stay on-top of the truck industry and its innovation, you need to work for a manufacturer or their dealership network’. At the time, his dad had been with Iveco for 15 years and could see how the industry and the vehicles were changing.

This opened a new chapter to Brian’s life, one with broader horizons than he could’ve expected.

Welcome to Scania…and the rest of the world!

Brian joined Scania as a technician in 2006, working out of its Dundee branch – once again satisfying his desires. By being given the freedom to find, solve and fix issues with customer vehicles and operate in an environment where his knowledge was growing and adapting. He was content.

Well, almost…

Growing up Brian had dreamt of working abroad and seeing the world as part of his career. With him fast approaching his 30s, it seemed this final frontier wouldn’t be breached. Until a chance moment:

“I was quite happy in Dundee,” he says. “But I was also keen to see what else was out there. I had always said to everyone that I would work abroad. That’s when a colleague said there’s a good job for you on Scania’s intranet – it was in India.”

Taking the opportunity to apply, Brian was successful and would join a global team of technicians who reported directly in Scania AB CV in Södertälje, Sweden. They were tasked with helping customers and their technicians maintain their vehicles better, in developing Scania markets.

This was the chance Brian had been waiting for! It also marked a massive departure from what he knew.

Firstly, he’d only known life living at home, and now he was immediately going to be living independently halfway around the world.

Secondly, was the culture shock. Not being a big fan of either spicy food or hot weather – this was the perfect location for him.

Reflecting on his time in India, he said: “It was good fun – you would go and work during the week and then at the weekends you could enjoy the country and the culture.

“We arrived as private companies were winning the coal mining contracts in India. They would buy Scanias, and we went out there to try and teach them how to fix Scanias properly.

“I’ve never seen parts so worn as in India and our job was to try to get them to buy parts, but also to fix them properly.

“The whole culture is different. We come from quite a safe environment. Out there were young boys aged 18 & 19 fixing these trucks with no PPE on, just sandals. They would dive into things, take them out and break them into bits far more than we would ever do. It’s amazing how the whole thing works out there.”

His 18 months out in India, saw him based out of Hyderabad and focused on the Southern regions of the country.

The whole experience was the making of him at both a professional and a private level, and ticked a much vaunted life box at the same time. It also had an inadvertent effect, which was the development of a natural mentoring technique.

“It just happened,” said Brian. “They said you will go out and fix the trucks and teach along the way, which is what you do in general as a technician. You don’t realise at the time, an apprentice or colleague is picking up bits and pieces from you constantly. It’s natural to pass on your knowledge and expertise to others by simply doing the job.”

Having only envisaged being abroad for a year, Brian found himself heading to Sudan next.

In Northeast Africa, Brian only spent a month on the ground to inspect a fleet of Scania mining trucks that the customer was using to move materials in their large dam and irrigation project. At the time, Sweden was experiencing lots of warranty claims – and wanted to ascertain why.

Soon after he move closer to home by working in Armenia. His Eastern European adventure saw him work to keep a fleet of trucks moving as they were crucial in delivering coal supply to Azerbaijan.

All the time, he was working right on the periphery of a region that is partial to a conflict or two – including an area on the route nicknamed the Region of Death, where active snipers patrol the hills, and the remains of blown-up tanks are visible at the side of the road.

He concluded his global tour with a stint in Chile and Brazil running the latest software updates on every Scania vehicle as part of a global gearbox campaign.

By the end of this project, Brian had been on the job for more than four and half years, and it seemed like the perfect time to go home.

“It was an amazing experience,” he adds. “I keep telling everyone, even the young guys, that if you get a chance to work abroad go and do it, go and see the world. There’s a lot of time to settle down.

“When I was in Chile, there was a global downturn and recession, work was drying up, plus my dad got ill with cancer. For me, it seemed kind of logical to bring that adventure to an end.”

Brian returned home to Dundee to enjoy living back in Scotland and his brand new home, which had stood empty for more than a year, while he was finishing up his last secondments.

Unfortunately, Scania didn’t have space in their Dundee branch on his return, so he moved across to Mercedes-Benz to remain near home, before rejoining Scania again when the chance arose.

Ever since, he has worked happily as a technician sharing his skills with colleagues and apprentices alike. And establishing a family of his own.

Next on Brian’s to-do list is to continue challenging himself, by taking the steps to become a technical or escalation expert, which will hopefully see him touring the world again, but this time from the comfort of home.