Victory Radio promotional bus involved in crash leaving station without vehicle for summer events

Bob Bruce, who runs Victory Radio, was awoken by a loud crash at about 5am on Wednesday, June 28. When he went outside he found the vehicle, a T2 Volkswagen campervan – dubbed the ‘Radio Victory bus’ as an homage to the station’s former incarnation - had been knocked roughly 20 feet from where it was parked on Havant Road in Farlington by another car.

Victory Radio had been using the vehicle – described by Bob as an ‘eye-catcher’ – for the last three years to promote the station, for outside broadcasts, and various other live events by the DAB station which is based in Spur Road, Cosham and is strongly tied to the former Radio Victory.

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Bob said: ‘I’m surprised it didn’t wake everybody up. When I walked out I thought “oh my god”. My immediate thought was ‘is he hurt?’ – which fortunately he wasn’t. The vehicle had been moved about 22 feet and was by then straddling the pavement and the road. I immediately saw it was a write-off.’

The estimated costs of repairing the vehicle outweigh its value – roughly £15,000 – leading Bob to conclude that he will be without a promotional vehicle for the summer.

He added: ‘ It would be a complete rebuild of the front end, the chassis, the floor plan, all the doors down the passenger side, bumpers front and back and the wheels are buckled. We will miss the van tremendously because we’ve got so many events booked in. It’s the biggest tool in our armoury for awareness. We want to help the community as much as we can and by getting involved with.’

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Among the scheduled events which Mr Bruce says would have benefitted from the van’s presence is a Rowans Hospice fundraiser on Portsdown Hill – which will have to be postponed as a result – later this month.

Victory Radio, owned by Nostalgic Local Radio, is a 24/7 commercial station with its own presenters broadcasting from 6am to midnight.