**The truck**

My youngest son loves postman pat and although this was initially brought for my oldest son when he went through the postman pat stage but it has been adopted by my youngest son now. There are different variations of this toy we have the one that is supplied with sounds, a ladder but no Ted figure. My son was a little confused why he did not receive a character to drive the car but as he had some from his other postman pat sets this was not too much of a problem and they are compatible with this truck.
The truck is an exact copy of Ted Glen's truck on the TV show and comes with ladders for an accessory. These just sit in the back of the truck there is nothing to hold them in place and they have been lost now at the bottom of a toy box but they were well made and provided a little extra fun for my son's.

One of the best features of this truck is on the top there is a small button that can be pressed and the child is rewarded with either the postman pat special delivery theme tune or some well known phrases from Ted himself. These include Oh steady on and ohhh crumbs and my son absolutely loves this. This button is a large square and very easy to locate and press even for younger children just exploring. This truck has movable wheels and when the truck is pushed along it travels quite far it does work on carpeted floor but as you would expect it travels a lot further on wooden flooring. There is also a small crank on the front of the truck that when little one twists it around in circles it makes a clicking noise which again both my sons really enjoyed.

**In play **

My son was a little disappointed that no Ted figure was supplied with the set but he decided postman pat was going to drive the truck and there is a small part moulded in the driver's seat for him to sit comfortably. There is space for another character in the passenger sea but this has nothing to hold them in and so without the doors they tend to fall out while they are making deliveries. Also you have to prop their feet up as there is not a lot of room when two characters are inside the truck.

The back of the pickup truck used to have a part that flipped down to allow for easy loading of the truck but unfortunately that has been pulled off during the three years of play. It did last really well and was only recently broken of the truck but as they work on hinges there is no sharp edges and it could have been clipped back on but after 100 times of putting it back on to the truck mummy got a little fed up and got rid of it while the boys were sleeping. (Bad mummy I know.) Also the doors of the truck used to open and closed but my youngest son recently pulled them off too however this does not make any difference with play. My son actually prefers the truck with the doors off as it means he can get his characters in and out easily.

My son does use this with other parts in the special delivery postman pat line but this is a toy that could be used on its own quite easily and it is a fun toy without having to go out and purchase a lot of toys from the same range. They like to make up scenes from the postman pat TV show and basically drive the truck around my front room again and again. It really helps that the truck is an exact copy of the TV show as it means it is instantly recognisable and as it includes Ted's most known phrases they try and make stories up based on them.

Even with the doors missing, the fold down ramp at the back of the truck missing and three years of use from my two boys this toy is still going strong. It can be wiped down because it is made of plastic and it fairs well against the many times my children have dropped it on the floor or crashed it into the wall.
One thing to mention is when we purchased this truck the batteries came with it and we brought it over three years ago for my eldest son and he did play with it a lot. Now my youngest son has began playing with this truck every single day and the batteries have still not run out and there is no slowing of the voice so it is not a battery eater in the slightest.

**Summary**

This is a great truck that has lasted a lot of play and is certainly worth the £10 we paid for it. The batteries last really well and it has a lot of different features to keep little one entertained. We brought this from Tesco but it is available on Amazon, play and other online retailers. This really is a perfect toy for any post pan pat fan and especially if they enjoy the character Ted Glenn. It is suggested for an age range of three years plus but I think it can be used before this as my two year old son is currently playing with it now. The doors are not small enough to be a choking hazard when they come off but of course if a younger child is playing with this I would keep an eye on them just in case.