Truckfest was again held at East of England arena Peterborough over two days to start the season. Now the largest outdoor trucking festival in Europe and organised by Live Promotions it was again another record year with in excess of 3,000 trucks in attendance. Having started to arrive the Thursday before the show the final trucks were still arriving on Sunday morning, before the gates opened to the public, to fill what little space was left on the showground. Working trucks from all around the United Kingdom were joined by special show trucks from Europe, Classic trucks, Recovery trucks, Race trucks and American trucks along with the latest models from most of the major truck manufacturers. Visitors were entertained by a full programme of events in the main arena, this year hosted by Truckfest favourite Mikey Faulkner. These included car crushing monster truck action from Slingshot and Swamp Thing, Motorcycle stunt team Broke FMX and demonstrations from the Highways Agency and PRDC. Each day there was also chance to see the day’s celebrity guests interviewed in the main arena. Reverting back to Truck fest’s more traditional approach to guests 2019 saw former X-Factor winner and Coronation Street actor Shayne Ward appear on Sunday while on Monday former top flight football manager and current King of the jungle Harry Redknapp appear. Both proved very popular attracting large crowds when interviewed around the show. On Sunday afternoon Ward also performed live on the outdoor stage to a large crowd. Appearing all weekend and performing live was another popular Truckfest guest, Irish singer and former truck driver Marty Mone. He performed live on stage on Saturday evening and also on his own stand at the show during the two public days, again attracting good crowds throughout the weekend. Around the show there was also trade stands, a model truck show, fun-fair, the Vloggers Village and children’s characters to meet.

A number of hauliers were showcased at Peterborough covering a wide variety of work carried out which included large operators to smaller specialised operators. Each year Truckfest present a Lifetime achievement award and this year it went to Jack Richards & Son from Fakenham in Norfolk. The award was received by Jack’s Granddaughter Lisa Richards on behalf of the company in the main arena, this will be covered in more detail in a separate article. Large numbers of regular Truckfest competitors were in attendance that ranged from large fleets to owner drivers from local companies to ones from as far afield as Scoctland, Ireland and Cornwall. Joining these were some first time attendees and on Sunday afternoon I caught up with one. Hough & Ward Transport from Wakefield bought four trucks to show, all looking resplendent in their bespoke blue livery, the same blue as previously used by the Subaru World Rally Team on their cars. I saw them arriving just ahead of the gates opening to the public on Sunday morning. Each truck is named, but unlike other companies each is named after a World Formula One Champion. Speaking to Daniel from the company he said they are extremely proud of how the trucks look, none of which are brand new, and all sprayed not wrapped. He went on to explain that usually the bank holiday is a busy one for them but being a small company the management decided to give the drivers a break and the opportunity to attend, their late arrival due to workload. Fair to say they were enjoying their first Truckfest experience. Like most they had established a camp with barbeque behind their trucks and had spent plenty of time polishing and getting around the show to socialise.

Monday afternoon saw the all-important awards presented in the main arena where drivers and representatives gathered in anticipation. An award at Truckfest being viewed as one of the highest accolades to be receive in the industry. In the older trucks Best Vintage (Pre 1970) went to P.C. Howard, Best Classic (1971-1995) to Ian Craig Haulage from Scotland and Best Senior (1996-2009) to Geoff Dodds Tansport. More silverware was heading to Scotland as Alex Anderson won Best Kept Show Truck (Non-Working) and Best Kept Super Truck to W.H. Malcolm. There was local success as Rowell’s Transport won Best Kept New Truck (Under 1 year) while also taking third in Best Kept Fleet while P.J. Lee won Best Kept Company Owned Truck. The Best Kept Rigid / Tipper went to regular class winners F.G. Bond; they also took the trophy for Best Kept Fleet with Best Newcomer going to Dave Allen. With anticipation building it was time for the big trophy, Best in Show. The runner-up was announced as F.G.Bond with their Scania tipper and the main trophy went to P.J.Lee and driver Chris Sallis with their Volvo, see separate article about this truck.

In all another great and well attended show to kick off the Truckfest season. Details for other Truckfest events can be found by visiting www.truckfest.co.uk. In a change to the usual date for 2020 Truckfest will be held on 9th&10th of May, a Saturday and Sunday. This is due to the Government incorporating VE Day celebrations into the bank-holiday calendar and changing traditional May Day bank holiday.

Galleries from Truckfest can be found here while related articles can be found on our main webpage.

Saturday; 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2346425422291603

Sunday;

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2346456515621827

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2346480325619446

Monday;

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2348352748765537

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Snap-magcom-2061747147426100/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2348369962097149

Gary Malkin