John van den IJssel transports bitumen throughout Europe

"When we see a red cycle path somewhere, it's nothing out of the ordinary for us. The majority of people don't even think about the fact that asphalt is actually black," says John van den IJssel. Whether customers want to create red, green or purple-coloured asphalt, the first thing they will need is light-coloured bitumen. And that's exactly what the 55 year old transports. But because light-coloured bitumen is somewhat of a rarity, John pretty much covers all of Europe: "Often, I set out at the beginning of the week and am on the road until Friday afternoon. One day, I'll be in northern Scandinavia, the next I'm back in southern Italy."

No wonder, then, that he covers so many kilometres. His trusty companion for years on these journeys is his Mercedes-Benz. Initially he had an Actros 1843, which he happily brought up to the million kilometre mark before changing it for his Actros 1848 LS MegaSpace Euro V. John says: "I drove that truck with great pleasure for almost ten years before changing it at the end of last year. In February this year, it would have been ten years old. Pretty impressive really – a Euro V specification truck ten years ago already! At the time it was one of the first of its kind and appeared in all of the magazines. At the time, you could barely find a place to top up the AdBlue. In those ten years, I covered almost 1.4 million kilometres! Problem-free."

But then it was time for a change. John didn't need to think too much about his choice: the new truck had to be another Mercedes-Benz. Or to be more precise: an awe-inspiring Actros 1851 BigSpace, which made bidding farewell to his Euro V truck that little bit easier. The Actros is fitted with a TRS generator as the bitumen needs to be unloaded with a temperature of 160 to 170 degrees. John explains: "Previously, a unit weighing 1000 kilograms was fitted under the trailer. Today, the device is run by a power take-off of around 100 kilos. Times have changed."

He's right. Times have indeed changed. But there are still some things which remain constant in John's life. His wife, Carla, for example. In 1993, on a journey to St Petersburg, John set off from the wholesalers where Carla worked. "Look after yourself," she said to him. "Will you be back in time for New Year's Eve?" A nice motivator to ensure he was back in time. The pair headed to a New Year's party, then they started seeing each other more frequently and married a year later... rather fittingly on New Year's Eve!