Mr Luff, 81, is founder and chairman of Border Express, a company managed by his four sons.

It has 1000 staff and subcontractors and 500 trailers on the road.

The Hall of Fame began last year. Its first member was retired builder Maurice Chick.

Mr Luff’s award was presented by the editor of the The Border Mail, Di Thomas — the paper sponsors the awards.

He has been associated with the transport industry for 60 years.

He started driving in his home town of Bega when he was 17 and continued to do so while at Sydney University and teachers’ college.

He then taught English and history at Nowra High School in 1953 until the call of the road led to him resigning to manage a Nowra transport company in 1955 — a move that raised his wage $1 to $40 a week.

By chance, he visited Albury for a weekend in 1955 and met his future wife, Lynn Phillips.

He moved here in 1957, married Lynn in 1958 and joined her father, running old trucks on the Hume Highway.

In 1959, he launched Albury Border Transport, served on Albury Council from 1962 to 1968 and, with a few mates, started the Albury Regional Promotion Council.

Ansett Freight Express bought his company in 1974 and retained Mr Luff as area manager before TNT, led by Sir Peter Abeles, bought Ansett.

On his 50th birthday in 1981, Mr Luff started Border Express with seven flat-top trailers, four staff and one customer, Moore Business Systems.

Border Express soon teamed with Ron Finemore to buy and rebuild Finemore’s Transport, Mr Luff was board chairman until 1993 and a director until Toll bought it.

Mr Luff and his sons have since built Border Express. It has terminals in all the capital cities as well as the Gold Coast, Newcastle and Darwin.

It is one of the biggest such operations in Australia.