FORGET car shampoos.

When John Wareing wants to clean his beloved truck he uses - hair shampoo.

"Just get a good lather, rinse it off and leave it to dry.

It works a treat," said 76-year-old John from Blackburn, who has passion for old lorries.

The shampoo treatment is reserved for Bomber, one of the loves of his life - a 1950 Leyland Beaver.

Originally a West Riding fire engine, it was found in a sorry state in an Aberdeen scrap yard 10 years ago.

John was delivering a load of coke while working for British Fuels and came across Bomber.

"It was a wreck," he said.

"I came back and told William McMurrary, who runs a haulage business in Oswaldtwistle and who also has a love of old lorries, and he bought it."

The pair spent the next four years lovingly restoring the vehicle, decking it out in McMurrary livery. John went to the British Leyland factory in Leyland, where he managed to find all the spares he needed, right down to the headlights.

Bomber, who can only manage 28 mph and has only used one pint of oil in the past four years, is now being spruced up ready for a summer of visiting shows and carnivals. And John is the only one who drives the monster of the road.

Last year he set off in May and didn't come home until July.

"My wife goes mad at times," chuckled John, who even took Bomber on a tour of southern Ireland.

He has no problem with accommodation.

He has a container loaded on the 17ft 6ins flat back where he has a bed!

When Bomber is not on the road, it is stored at McMurrary's where the owner also has an impressive collection of old vehicles including an A-type Ford lorry, a Bullnose Morris and a 1917 T-type Ford.

John says Leyland Beaver trucks are not that rare.

He has one of his own.

"It was vandalised by children and they made a mess,: he said.

"But I am planning to start restoring it soon."

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