Truckers from across South Wales descended on Caerphilly town in a touching gesture towards a six-year-old boy with autism.
Twelve trucks took over the rear car park of the Asda store on Pontygwindy Road on Saturday, September 23, after they were rallied on Facebook.
Rhiannon Elliott, 49, posted a picture of her autistic son Aaron playing with his toy trucks, and was contacted by an old school friend Richard Tarr – who is a real-life truck driver.
Richard got in contact with the pair to arrange an opportunity for Aaron to get up-close-and-personal with some of the HGVs.
Rhiannon, a pharmacy dispenser, said: “Richard spotted Aaron’s love for trucks on social media and set up a page for all his colleagues to send photos for Aaron to see, and it just escalated from there.
“The response has left us overwhelmed. There are not enough words to describe how I’m feeling. It’s been something else, just completely amazing.
“Aaron was initially quite scared and needed some time to process it all, but he loved it and was very excited.
“There were 12 trucks in the car park, and the manager of Asda even came out for a look.”
Six-year-old Aaron, a pupil at Ysgol Gymraeg Caerffili, is in the final stages of being diagnosed on the autistic spectrum, and struggles with verbal communication.
Rhiannon added: “He loves to give out high fives. The school have been so supportive, but this is new for me. It’s not a journey I anticipated going on, but I’m taking it in my stride.
“It’s been quite difficult, but we take the good with the bad.
“We’ve had tickets donated for the British Truck Racing Championship in Pembrey.
“The trucker family have been awesome. They’ve shown my son is as special to others as he is to me.”
Richard, 50, from Blackwood, organised the event and said: “The response has been phenomenal, and the Asda Community Team were absolutely fantastic. I’m over the moon.
“It’s a couple of hours out of our day, but a day Aaron won’t forget. We had truckers come from far and wide.”
Good on ’em, well done to all involved.
Way to go Richard!