Nee naw! Your chance to own your own fire engine

Phill Clark, contract haulier, with the fire engine he bought on a whim and is now selling at Besthorpe. (Image: Archant 2022)

Phill Clark, 56, bought the 2004 emergency vehicle on a whim in 2021 in a Welsh auction.

However, Mr Clark did not tell his wife, Sarah, for two days for fear she would be furious about having the giant vehicle on the drive.

Sadly Mr Clark, who set up a haulage company in 2007 which transports goods around Norfolk, is having to part ways with the blue-lighted Volvo Saxon engine.

He said he simply has not had time to transform the vehicle into the drinks mobile he always dreamt of.

Phill Clark, contract haulier, with the original pump in the fire engine he bought on a whim and is now selling at Besthorpe. (Image: Archant 2022)

He explained: "I was experiencing a bit of a low point with my business and was watching George Clarke's Amazing Spaces on TV. A couple bought a Dennis fire engine for drinks and events.

"I wanted to do it and searched the internet. The fire engine was up for auction through a company in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

"I expected to be outbid but at the end of the auction it went green and I thought, 'What now?'

"I didn't tell the wife for two days but had to break it to her. She said, 'What have you done?'

"It is a shame to see it go but I cannot give it the time it deserves. It is fun to drive."

After paying £9,000 for the engine, the business owner and former lorry driver, who lives in Tacolneston, transported the 15-tonne vehicle to his Besthorpe base on a low loader.

He has put it on Norwich and Wymondham community selling pages on Facebook for £8,000 and is surprised by the response from people online.

"Having a fire engine for sale is not an everyday occurrence. When there is a fire engine crowds gather. People associate a fire engine with danger, excitement and blues and twos," added Mr Clark, whose late father was a mechanic for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service in the 1970s.

The fire engine Phill Clark bought on a whim and is now selling at Besthorpe. (Image: Archant 2022)

The vehicle was previously used by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service until it was decommissioned by the Home Office, but retains its five ladders, pump and two hose reels.

Amazing transformation ideas for vehicles

Buses and cars do not just need transport people - they can be used for fun and entertainment which has been proved with vehicles across Norfolk.

Blakeys Bus Cafe in Mulbarton (Image: Archant Norfolk Photographic © 2016)

1) In Mulbarton lovers of tea and cake can enjoy treats at the Blakeys Bus Cafe, which has been transformed from a 1956 Bristol Lodekka double-decker bus into a country tearoom café.

Merlin Batchelor in the driving position hatch of his 1967 armoured personnel carrier, which has led him to launch a new business, Tank Taxi. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Archant)

2) An armoured personnel carrier is now used as a taxi around Norwich after Merlin Batchelor spent £20,000 refurbishing the military vehicle.

It is decorated in black and purple camouflage and Tank Taxi is hired as prom transportation.

Ernie the big blue bus transformed by Norwich teacher Wendy Davison (Image: Wendy Davison)

3) Bignold Primary School teacher Wendy Davison and her husband Rupert transformed a blue Mercedes bus called Ernie into a campervan, which featured in Jimmy Doherty’s Dream Builds on Wheels television programme.