Certain services connected to the road haulage industry are best described as ‘specialised’. Customisation is one of them. Vehicles have been customised for decades, and elaborately airbrushed trucks often win prizes at the big truck shows around Europe, as well as regularly gracing the pages of T&D.

So who are the people who provide this service, and what is involved? Airbrush artist Alan Small wood, along with his client, Steve Broadhurst, has been kind enough to provide an insight into how it is done.

Silver T-cab The truck in question is a silver Scania 164L T-cab, bought by Steve purely for the show circuit rather than for the general haulage fleet of Staly bridge based Broadhurst Transport.

The plan was to add images of vehicles previously operated by the company, along with images of Steve’s relatives who preceded him at Broadhurst Transport. As the vehicle was very striking anyway, the images would be rendered in subtle black and grey rather than bright colours.

Alan, who turns 41 this year, has had an interesting and varied career, leading to his successful business – AS Airbrush. “I left school and messed about with other things, as you do. In my last year at school I did work experience doing Christmas cards, children’s books and so on, and that’s where I learned to use an airbrush,” he says. “A few years later, I got a job there but it didn’t pay enough and a lot of the work went over to computers.”

His family has a background in transport. “My dad’s always driven lorries – he used to work on flats, roping & sheeting, which is where I learned. I then became a motorbike mechanic – I was really into them.

“Eventually I did my Class 2 and always wanted to get my Class 1 licence straight away.