Community / ‘It was surreal’ – local man wins campervan in giveaway
IT IS fair to say the 15th of April was a day of big celebration for Jonathon Scott.
He had been celebrating his daughter’s 18th birthday when more good news popped up in his email inbox later that night.
The Shetland man had been told he had won a swish campervan in a prize draw – although he initially wondered if it was a scam.
It was the real deal, however, and speaking from inside his newly converted Mercedes Sprinter van this week, Jonathon said it has “still not sunk in”.
He had bought five tickets – priced £4.97 each – as part of a giveaway hosted by competition company VannyCampers.
The top prize was a converted van named Sasha.
To his disbelief the 40-year-old’s name was picked as the winner of the campervan in a live draw on Facebook.
It includes beds, a kitchen and a shower/toilet room – all you need for life on the road.
Described as “completely off-grid capable” the van also has solar panels as well as an electric hook-up.
Explaining how he found out he had won, Jonathon said he had been out buying his daughter a drink for her birthday and checked his emails at the back of ten.
“I had an email from VannyCampers,” he said as he gave Shetland News a tour of the van.
“Shona [his partner] checked back on the live feed to see if it was genuine or no, because we thought at first it was a scam.”
After it appeared to be real, he phoned up the VannyCampers contact.
“It was a bit surreal to be honest,” Jonathon said.
The couple then arranged to go to Bristol to pick up the vehicle, which had been converted by specialist firm Van Life Builds over the space of around three months.
“Once we picked this up from the airport, I was like ‘this is actually happening’,” Jonathon said.
He said it is “well made” – and you would find it hard to disagree, with the fittings appearing to be high quality and the living space fairly comfortable.
The salmon farm boat skipper also quipped that the shower space is bigger than the one you would find on the NorthLink ferry.
In a post on social media Van Life Builds said they wanted the vehicle to feel like a “calm sanctuary on wheels”.
The couple are set to take Sasha south in the summer, touring around places like Loch Lomond, the west coast of Scotland and Orkney.
The twist in the tale, however, is that after making use of the van the couple will consider whether to sell Sasha and put the funds towards a family home.
“We’d love to keep it but thinking this is the deposit on a house…that makes more sense than keeping it, getting a family home,” Jonathon said.
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