THE VEA van is a modernised version of the vacuum-braked BR 12t ‘Vanwide’ vans originally constructed at Wolverton and Derby in 1962. Modernisation of 550 ‘Vanwides’ with airbrakes and updated suspension, creating the VEA-type, commenced in the late 1970s.
The MoD was the main user of VEA vans, which could negotiate the sharp curves found in Army bases better than more modern air-braked vans. When withdrawn in the 1990s,
