I’m a white van man… people judge me for my job but I don’t care – I just won a £62k motor

A WHITE van man has told how people judge him for his job but he absolutely loves it.

Now Russell Eatly, 42, has won a £62,000 Mercedes motor after entering a poetry competition.

The dad-of-one started his business Pristine Carpets from his home in Brickhill, Bedford, 18 months ago,

It came after he was made redundant from his family's security company.

Now he's won a £62,298 EVito Mercedes van after his wife Nikki, 42, wrote a poem about her husband's battered work motor.

After watching hundreds of carpet cleaning videos on YouTube in his then unlimited free time, Russell decided to have a crack at it himself.

But he had to take loans for the £16,000 needed for the cleaning equipment.

And he was gifted a beaten up 16-year-old Ford Transit van to lug it around in.

He told Sun Online: "We're called Pristine Carpets but we've been driving around this old van. It was embarrassing and we were constantly terrified it would stop working.

"When we first got it it didn't work at all. It failed its MOT and cost us £2,000."

Now Russell's responsible for cleaning all the carpets at Woburn Safari Park - as well as hotels and businesses across the south east of England.

He added: "We're doing really well. We need to pay off the debts but then we've the potential to become rich.

"I used to be up late a night watching these carpets being cleaned. Now I'm doing it myself. It's an amazing job."

Nikki was diagnosed with Graves Disease, a thyroid eye disease, that meant she lost her sight, two years ago.