When Kerry Butler, a Waste Support Officer at Hills Municipal Collections (HMCL), was talking with colleagues about plans for her forthcoming wedding, the conversation quickly turned to laughter at how funny it would be if bride Kerry was delivered to the registry office in a refuse collection vehicle (RCV).

This thought stayed with Kerry, and later that evening she discussed the idea with her son Cory, himself a Municipal Collections Loader, and her wife-to-be Beth. They all agreed this would actually be a great thing to do, and the next day Kerry made arrangements with her Contract Manager to turn the idea into reality.

Unfortunately, two days before the wedding the truck that had originally been scheduled to take Kerry to her wedding became unavailable, and it looked like there was little chance of finding an alternative at such short notice. The team at Hills leapt into action to fulfil Kerry’s wish to be delivered to her wedding in an RCV.

Hillend Engineering’s CITYTRAK demonstrator on a Mercedes Econic 26t short wheelbase had been on demo with HMCL all week, but was due to be Fleet Manager at Hills Waste Solutions called Hillend Engineering to see what could be done.

The team at Hillend were delighted to be able to help and re-scheduled the collection of the CITYTRAK demonstrator to ensure it would be available for the big day.

On the day of the wedding, adorned with bows and driven by Steve Jones, one of Hills’ regular drivers, the CITYTRAK arrived at Chippenham Registry Office with Kerry and son Cory on board. The wedding party arrived ahead of Beth, and passers-by were surprised and delighted to see the beautiful bride in her elegant dress in an RCV, and excitedly wished her the very best for her wedding day.

Kerry was thrilled to have been driven to her wedding venue in the CITYTRAK, and the vehicle wrapping certainly made it stand out from the norm. “At Hills, I work on the admin and prepare run sheets for the drivers, ensuring the collections run smoothly, but I’ve never been in a RCV before, so to have been able to travel in one to my wedding really helped to make it such a special day. Cory enjoyed the journey too and was even telling me about the vehicle’s features as we were enroute!”

Hills’ Divisional Fleet Manager Nathan Carr was pleased that Hillend made the CITYTRAK available to help on the day, “This truck had been with us on demo and was due to be collected the day before the wedding which presented a problem. I had been in a meeting with Stuart at Hillend Engineering immediately prior to finding out about the other vehicle becoming unavailable, and given our close working relationship with Hillend over the past 30 years, I thought it worth asking for a favour! As I expected, Hillend came good and delayed the collection of their demonstrator until after the wedding.”

To Nathan, this is another example of great collaboration, “It is certainly true, and it has been said so many times, that this industry is quite unique in the way that relationships are formed. I feel that this is another great example of us being able to ‘phone a friend’ and ask for a favour at short notice, and this one was certainly a little out of the ordinary.”

Hillend Engineering’s Stuart Collett was only too pleased to help, “It was a privilege to have been able to help out with CITYTRAK on Kerry and Beth’s wedding day, and I hear that when the CITYTRAK demonstrator arrived at its next scheduled demonstration location on the Monday, it was delivered with the bows still in place, which was a unique touch that amused its next customer too!”

Wishing you every happiness Kerry and Beth and thank you for sharing your wedding day story.