Man Builds His Own Coca Cola Christmas Truck After Ad Gets Cancelled

We were all gutted when we heard the news that the Coca Cola truck won't be making its annual pilgrimage across the country for Christmas (boo, Covid!)

But one Shropshire man decided that he didn't want to go without the iconic vehicle, and so in a bid to cheer himself and his community up, he decided to make his own.

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Shaun Pickering, 26, made a replica of the Coca Cola truck in his front garden so people who may have been struggling over the second lockdown can still get into the Christmassy spirit.

The enormous display, which has been comprised of discarded material Shaun found in his own home and from a scrapyard, features over 30,000 LED bulbs. All in all, the lights cost Shaun £2000.

Speaking about his endeavour, Shaun explained: "I made the truck because the original has been cancelled. I was upset when I found out it had been cancelled because it's exciting.

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"People usually flock to their local shopping centre just to see the Coca Cola truck so, when they had to cancel, I thought they'd be even more disappointed people after such a tough year.

"As soon as little kids on the estate see it, they get excited."

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Shaun, who joked he doesn't usually put his decorations up this early, added strangers who have seen snaps of the truck on social media have travelled from as far as 30 miles away to see his creation.

"We've actually had people come to the house and ask if I can be in their photos of it. I have had messages online from people asking if they can have a look, or if they can take photos with their kids standing next to it," he said.

"My family love large Christmas displays like this but I've always wanted to make a Coca Cola truck as it is so iconic and, with it cancelled this year, I felt it was the right time."

And it's all for a good cause, with Shaun using the display to fundraise for mental health charity mind.

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"Since our dad's death, we have had our struggles with mental health. The NHS has been great.

"Help for mental health has really come on lately, largely due to the NHS. Mental health is being spoken about a lot more now than it used to be. People used to be scared and think it was a weakness to say they suffer with anxiety or other problems, but that's changing.

"More people are talking about it and more people are becoming aware of these challenges, which is great."

Topics: Christmas, Tasty Food, Food & Drink, Tasty, Coca-Cola

Kimberley Bond

Kim is a journalist at Tyla, and has previously worked at the Evening Standard, Radio Times as well as several national newspapers. A showbiz obsessive and a television fanatic, Kim is particularly interested in celebrity gossip, A-list events and the latest releases on either the big or small screen. Contact her at [email protected]

@0xKimberley