Meet Moshe Rothstein: Britain’s only Orthodox Jewish lorry driver.
The Salford trucker travels the length and breadth of the country but still manages to observe the Sabbath and maintain a strict kosher diet.
With his yarmulke hat and full beard, the 27-year-old – known to fellow truckers as Mozzi – takes his faith seriously but insists it’s no barrier to holding down a full-time job on the road.
A lorry driver since 2010, he now clocks up more than 100,000 miles each year shipping crates across Britain.
He said: “I love my job. I look forward to working every day.
“There’s absolutely no conflict with my religious beliefs and being a driver.
“People think that we don’t have a life because we’re always on the road. But the people I’ve met and work with are a million miles away from that. They have families and are interesting, friendly people.”
He developed a taste for the road after travelling around the world, visiting Australia, Israel, and Canada, where he drove buses and light goods vehicles.
And while driving his 40-tonne truck – Moshe tunes into an iPod, listening to scholarly scripts about Jewish traditions, and catches up on his studies while his vehicle is being reloaded.
In order to observe his religion’s requirement to rest from sundown on Friday to Saturday, Moshe’s working week begins on a Sunday and he is allowed days off to observe important holidays. And while truckers traditionally get stuck into stodgy fried breakfasts, Moshe takes a packed lunch for his meals on the road.
When not working for Preston-based drinks distribution firm KNDL, Moshe uses his spare time to help run an on-call charity offering assistance to people of all faiths in Salford and Bury.
The driver said he has been given a friendly reception from colleagues and fellow truckers and has been happy to answer their questions about his faith.
And, in more than two years of driving, the lorry driver said the only racism he suffered was an incident of name-calling by a warehouse worker in the north east in January. The worker has since been suspended.
But Moshe, from the Broughton Park area, said he was still encouraging young people in the Orthodox community to follow his lead and branch out into less-traditional occupations.
He said: “Traditionally, people in the Orthodox community have tended to work locally but I have been saying it is possible to get a different type of job.
“If people want to ask me about my faith, I’m always happy to talk to them about it.”
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