Chapter 21

Opening the vehicle-trading magazine, Rob flicks through the ads. After exhausting everyone he knew by phone, he had no luck in finding anything remotely similar to the truck. The magazines and papers were his last option. There were plenty of seven and a half tonne trucks for sale, but the work needed to transform them would be too excessive.

Hours of page turning and reading had gone by and he was just about to give up when a bold ad caught his eye. Liquidation, all vehicles must go. It read that a food company had gone into liquidation and they are open to offers. The first vehicle in the long list was a Mercedes Atego 815. It was the first Atego he had seen in any of the listings. Looking at the small picture, it was a refrigerated truck. It was not ideal but it was the closest thing he had come across. It had the door in the back the same as the security truck and crucially it was white. The main change would be to take off the refrigeration unit on the front of the box.

Reaching for his mobile, he eagerly dials the number.

"Hello mate, I saw your advert about the Mercedes Atego. Is it still available?"

"Yes sir, it is"

"Can I come over and have a look?"
"Of course, you will have to be quick though, we have had quite a few enquiries"

"That's fine, where are you?"

"We are in Park Royal, near Wembley. Do you know it?"
"Sure do, I am about an hour away, just round the A406. Is it okay to come now?"

"Yes, you are more than welcome"

"Thanks see you soon"

"Oh Sir, please, what is your name?"

"Charles, Charles Bentley"

If you were looking for the best roads, the A406 was not one of them. Orbiting London, it was built to ease congestion in the City. After a number of years, it too had become grid locked. Someone made the decision to build the M25 motorway circling the outside of it. This eased congestion a little, but during rush hour, it could take an hour to move ten mile. Luckily, it was still early morning and he had made good time and was well within the hour.

Dragging along Terry, who had just turned up at the warehouse, they set off. At least with two people, if he bought the truck Terry could drive the car back rather than leave it there to be collected later.

Making their way through the car park there were around thirty vehicles lined up. Everything from small Escort vans up to heavy goods vehicles. Rob was only interested in one and made a b-line straight for it.

With photos in hand, he systematically scours every detail. Starting with the front of the cab, the only difference he could see was the metal edging around the armoured windows. This would not be too major to replicate. Sourcing some aluminium trim and gluing it in place would not look amiss to the untrained eye.

He could do the same effect around the side windows on the cab. With this on and the windows wound up, it would look as though they were fixed in place and didn't open, just like the armoured truck.

Once he had removed the 815 number badges, the cab would look very similar if not identical.

Walking along to the trailer box, the first thing that stuck out was the refrigeration unit. Situated on the front of the box above the cab, there was no way this could stay. He would deal with that part of the transformation once back at the warehouse.

Referring back to his notes on the ratio measurements, he pulls a tape measure from his pocket. Sliding the tape to the top of the door, he holds the bottom in place. Give or take a centimetre or two the measurements were near enough the same.

Measuring the width of the door had the same conclusion. This was great news, the less he had to modify the truck the better. Even the opening handle was the same, a simple square pull latch with a key lock.

The back was just a good. The tail-lift was standard so matched perfectly. This type of truck came with two sets of doors. Either a slide up shutter door or double opening container doors as standard. This however had the latter, which was exactly what truck on the photos had.

"Right Tel, this is our best option. Let's see what kind of deal we can haggle out"