Doug Smith has raised thousands of pounds for charity with his American-style Coca-Cola truck replica – which he built using an old sand buggy in his garage.
The 63-year-old grandad spent months with his son building a replica of the iconic truck.
He took it to the streets by his home in Hambleton, Lancashire, during the pandemic in 2020 to deliver a little festive magic to children during the lockdown restrictions.
And after seeing how successful his venture was, Doug repeated the festive drive-arounds for the past two years – and branched out to Blackpool, Thornton, Garstang and Bispham – and raised more than £25,000 for good causes.
Doug said: “Nothing beats the excitement and pleasure that we feel as we approach housing estates with all our lights, horns and music.
“The joy it brings to the kids and all their families that see us is rewarding.”
#bisphamsanta #santacomestobispham #christmas #santa #Blackpool #visitblackpool #SantaClaus #Elves #elvesbehavinbadly pic.twitter.com/ypQ1iwhohQ
— Santa comes to Bispham (@Bisphamsanta) December 26, 2022
Doug, who named his truck ‘Harry and the Elves Behavin’ Badly’ after his late grandfather, could never have envisaged its popularity when he set out creating his special project in his single garage.
Starting back in August 2019, he was struck with the idea to create his own miniature road legal version of the Coca-Cola truck, originally for his Grandson Finley who showed great enthusiasm for a YouTube video.
Seeking help from his friend Tom, a welder and carpenter, they set to work on transforming an old sand buggy into a tractor unit. Six weeks later they had a mini-American style truck and then began building a trailer, which took around four weeks.
Doug has spent a lot on building this project and takes great pride in doing it for charity.
He said: “I was fortunate to be introduced to VCL light bars three years ago, at a time when we realised Harry needed to be rebuilt as it became clear that the vehicle we had been using as the tractor unit was not powerful enough for the size and weight of the trailer.
“I bought a second hand Kubota 900 RTV and VCL with their expertise in fabrication set about transforming it into what we have today.”
“It has been a great journey – one that is still evolving and getting bigger and better.”
— Santa comes to Bispham (@Bisphamsanta) December 23, 2022
During the build Doug was advised that he would need to seek permission from Coca-Cola to use their artwork on the truck and that it would take some time to get.
Unable to get out on the road that year, his son Finley came to the rescue again after developing a love for the Elves Behavin’ Badly Christmas characters.
Elves Behavin’ Badly are a bunch of cheeky characters, each with a different rebellious story and character profile. They have become a nationwide Christmas ritual since December 2017 and parents and children across the country enjoy collecting the characters and hiding them around the house in the festive season.
Doug’s grandson requested a photo of Elvie – his favourite character – on the truck and this led to Doug discovering that he had a contact at PMS International Plc, that developed and held the license for Elves Behavin’ Badly.
After a quick call and letter, they agreed and gave permission for Doug to use the image as long as he made a donation to a local charity.
Not only did Doug have a bit of fun driving the truck around but had the bright idea of putting it to good use raising money for charities Brian House Children’s Hospice and Trinity Hospice.
Michelle Lonican, Community Fundraising Manager from Brian House Children’s Hospice, said: “Doug’s whole purpose was to bring smiles for the children and to raise funds for Brian house.
“People like him are very special and as the years have gone on Doug has created ‘Harry the lorry’ in three different stages.
“He’s now got snow machines and all sorts. Doug is a part of a group over Wyre that raise significant amounts of money for lots of charities.
“He leads that community of people out there and many people are supporting him, we are extremely grateful for all his help.”
Santa comes to Bispham pic.twitter.com/Pvn9UfeDlF
— Santa comes to Bispham (@Bisphamsanta) December 23, 2022
The Santa comes to Bispham group and community on Facebook has over 2,000 members. This is their third year of the Santa comes to Bispham parade. It was bigger and better than previous years growing from a small team of volunteers who started out during the Covid pandemic realising children hadn’t had the opportunity to see Santa.
They arranged a spectacular parade supported by all local businesses bringing plenty of festive cheer whilst raising vital funds for their local hospices.
Wyre and Fylde Santa Tours by ciaraimfSanta comes to Bispham raised £1,326.85 just on the main parade in Bispham making their total raised so far to £3652.85.
Since then, that number has increased to £4,139 raised of their £5,000 target, almost 82% complete, with just 18% or £861 left to raise.
Harry separately has directly raised more than £25,000 and has additionally helped to raise more than £50,000 for charity from 2020-2022 over three years.
Explore the map below to follow the Santa Tours that took place across the Wyre and Fylde Coast.
Rebecca Livesey, a supporter of the Santa Tours who attended the Bispham tour, said: “It was absolutely wonderful, Harry was the best part of the parade, the fundraising that Doug does for charity is truly amazing.
“He puts in so much effort creating magical events for lots of local charities, he is an absolute legend and the smiles on so many children’s faces when they saw “Harry the lorry” and all playing in the snow from the truck was pure joy.”
Garstang resident Gabriella, 29, said: “It was brilliant start to finish, the children loved the elves, Santa and the grinch especially! It was so magical.”
Another spectator, Steve Eaves, 65, said: “To see the faces of all the youngsters waiting to see Father Christmas epitomises what Christmas is all about.
“Brilliant effort by all the volunteers and two charities also benefit.”
Everyone has their own reasons for getting involved.
Doug said: “I had a friend who had recently lost their young daughter to a terrible disease and during her short life the little girl and her family received a lot of help and support from Brian House Children’s Hospice and Trinity Hospice.
“On many occasions they told me how the help they received from the hospice was invaluable, so I decided to support the two local hospices.
“When I approached the two hospices to get permission to support them, they were delighted.”
Hayley Dillingham visits every year with her family and said: “As a family we have attended the event for the past three years. It’s lovely to see the Bispham community coming together once again this year.
“The smiles and laughs coming from the children and adults really is incredible, especially with the current circumstances.”
One festive supporter, Adrian Moore, made an effort to decorate and light his house up because they were on route of the Santa Tour.
Moore said: “I’m so glad I did, it was a magical event that truly captured the spirit of Christmas.”
Although Christmas 2023 is several months away, Doug is already making plans to make his truck even more impressive.
What started off as an idea after a chat with his grandson about Christmas, became a reality and over the years it began to snowball.
Each year Doug tries to come up with something to make it more exciting, which up to now he has achieved.
He said: “After the first year it became obvious that the tractor unit was not big enough (engine wise) so I bought a second-hand Kubota 900 RTV.
“With a lot of help from Dave Hall and his team from VCL Light Bars we rebuilt the Tractor unit and added more lights.
“We also added a projector to the inside of the trailer unit that projects onto a screen on the back door and gives the impression that Santa is inside the trailer and waiving at everyone. This year, 2022, we have added a snow machine.
“We are already planning for next years parades and new ideas are being discussed so as to make it more exciting and to maximise the ‘wow’ factor.
“It just goes from strength to strength and we will carry on raising money for Trinity Hospice in the foreseeable future.
“Sometimes I wish I’d come up with an idea to raise money in the summer when the weather was nice and pleasant, rather than Christmas when it can be cold and wet.
“But we’ve done it now so we better carry on doing it.”
