Mark Farrow, of Great Yarmouth-based MDF Transport, has found an unusual use for a Volvo truck – or at least his daughter has. Other girls go to the school prom in limousines these days but, for 16-year-old Bethany, nothing would do, but an NH12-480 plated (rather excessively for such a svelte load) at 140 tonnes.

When Mark bought the truck from Volvo Truck and Bus Centre East Anglia at Wisbech some four years ago, he was more interested in its mechanical properties. “We needed a double-drive truck at the time and this one happened to be available; it had just been sold by an owner in Holland at about a year old. It’s good for the company image and it gives a very comfortable ride.” When prom time arrived, however, image was everything. Others would be arriving in police cars, limos, even a riot van, but Bethany Farrow wanted something a bit bigger…

“The truck was so busy at the time, I couldn’t see how she could have it for the prom,” Mark says, remembering the heavy schedule of deliveries; the NH12 is used on abnormal loads work, often transporting 50 metre long wind turbine blades. “I offered to hire a stretch limo for her. I told her it’d be easier to get hold of a helicopter for the night !”

But she insisted, even when I told her I’d have to send her an invoice !” Luckily, though, a couple of days for cleaning and servicing coincided with the big night, and Cinderella Farrow was off to the ball.

When the truck showed up at local venue Hunter’s Hall, it caused quite a stir. “Kids were all round it, having their picture taken, saying they’d no idea how good it looked,” laughs Mark. Not that the truck outshone Bethany, of course. And, unlike her brother, she has no plans to work closely with the NH12 in future. “She’s going back for A-Levels,” says Mark proudly, “and then college. She wants to be a lawyer !”