Those who know Ben Turner, may not be surprised by his latest project. He is one of life’s enthusiasts and his gusto and disregard for convention typifies much of what he does, including this latest scheme to build a series of Mad Max style carriages which were due to be unveiled at the London Harness Parade in April this year.

Creating the Carriages:

Against the backdrop of Britain’s wettest winter on record the enthusiastic group gathered in the dark and damp to start work. The first step was sourcing vehicles. A bright red and green VW Beetle was the first to arrive, advertised as a restoration project on Facebook marketplace. Next came a Fiat 126 off-road buggy and finally an antique fairground ride vehicle from a gypsy site.

Community Club:

From the start a key aim of the group was to involve children. “We saw it as a perfect opportunity for sharing basic mechanical skills and teaching them things they don’t learn in the classroom like fixing nuts and bolts and changing tyres; while at the same time getting them interested in carriage-driving of course”.


The full articl, alongside Paul Orchard's amazing photographs will feature in the August/September issue of Carriage Driving.