Stapleford family restores retired dad's fire engine

Gary Jones saw the vehicle for sale and said he 'had to have it'

An ex-firefighter and his son have renovated the fire engine he used to work on after buying it online.

Gary Jones, from Stapleford in Nottinghamshire, had to retire in 2008 due to an accident at work

The vehicle had ended up under a tree in a farmer's field but has now been restored to its 1990s prime.

Gary's son Mark Jones, who remembers sitting in the engine, now drives it to open days and charity events and both agree it is "part of the family".

Gary Jones enjoyed his career as a fireman so much he said he would have done the work for free

Gary Jones said he loved being a firefighter and would have "worked for free", so found his enforced retirement difficult.

He said "I'd forgotten all about [the fire engine] but then my grandson found it for sale.

"Straight away I was interested, I had to have it. It's my old truck, I have been to a lot of incidents in this truck, it's part of my life."

It had been stood for two years under a tree in a farmer's field in Essex and needed a lot of work.

The vehicle has so far cost around £15,000 to restore and it now used for charity events

Gary said: "It was in a bit of a bad condition, the paintwork had gone a bit pink and there were branches on it.

"Tyres, brakes and hydraulic hoses had to be replaced and we have 80% replaced the kit on it.

"And it's nice that it is ours, in Nottingham and it's kind of part of the family"

Buying, restoring and rekitting the vehicle has cost about £15,000.

Mark Jones said the project had given his father a new zest for life

Mark Jones, who is an ambulance technician, said he had been around fire engines since he was "knee-high".

"When there was an emergency call-out I would jump in and get a lift to the station and have tea waiting for them when they got back," he said.

"It's been great to see my dad happy again, to see them reunited.

"This has brought us closer together as a family, we spend holidays together cleaning it, working on it and going to shows.

"It means everything to us to see dad happy, it means the world."

Both Gary and Mark said one of the recent highlights was taking the fire engine back to Stapleford Fire Station, where it and Gary were once based.