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Virgin Media has commissioned artist Ash Kumar to design a livery celebrating the company's network expansion in East London.

Kumar, twice recognised by Guinness as the world’s fastest henna artist, was commissioned by Virgin Media to celebrate reaching the half-way mark of the expansion of its broadband network across East London. 

Kumar said: “Henna has never been used like this before so when Virgin Media asked me if I could create a bespoke henna design for Talay’s van I was really excited about getting involved.” 

Virgin Media Apprentice Talay Ibrahim said: “The makeover Ash has given my van will be a great talking point with everyone as we connect more people to our ultrafast network in East London. The other engineers will definitely be jealous and will be clamouring for a new look for their vans too.”

The van was unveiled at a Bollywood-inspired party in Barking where residents helped design a second engineer’s van under Ash Kumar’s expert tutelage.