Owner in the pink as novelty ambulance gets licence to party
It's pretty in pink and despite costing £5,000 in lost bookings, a businessman's novelty ambulance has finally been given a licence to party.
Richard Keeling has been able to launch his party bus business after being granted a licence after 18 months of trying.
The 32-year-old from Tividale thought he was onto a winner when he bought the ambulance back in 2011 and transformed it into a luxury party limo.
But he cancelled £5,000 worth of bookings when an officer at Sandwell Council told him any application for a licence would fail.
Since then he had been trying to get the project back on track and now his application has now been approved.
"It's been a long hard 18 months of fighting so I'm over the moon to get here now," he said. "At times it didn't look like it was going to happen. When I had to cancel all my bookings it was a nightmare. But finally I have what I need."
Mr Keeling did not submit an application to Sandwell Council in the first instance because he was told licensed vehicles needed to be silver and under five years old.
He applied to another licensing authority, VOSA, but this failed as well as the subsequent appeal. He eventually did try with Sandwell Council and investigations revealed the case fell under limousine rather than taxi rules and therefore it did not matter that his vehicle was not the right colour or age.
His licence was approved on May 1.
Mr Keeling, who used to work for a tyre supplier but was made redundant last year, has already had his first booking – a 27th birthday for a group of women from Stourbridge. "They loved it," he said. "There was eight of them. I picked them up and drove them round for an hour. They were laughing, having a good time. I think they were really impressed. They were pretty drunk."
Mr Keeling, who lives near Wolverhampton Road in Tividale, spent thousands of pounds on the eight-seater party bus, installing a bar, lights and new leather seats. He said birthday parties, students heading to proms, stag and hen parties and even wedding parties could be catered for in the vehicle.
It features a huge sound system, karaoke machine, mirrored ceiling, LCD TV with DVD player, bubble machine plus lasers and strobes. He bought the ambulance in January 2012 for £3,000.
