DEAN Adlington is becoming quite the social media sensation by driving around in his self-painted van - and it all started for a good cause.

The 58-year-old from Royston decided he wanted to buy a shop after he was set to retire from decorating and rather than going down the conventional route he bought an ice cream van.

Known to many as Deano, he painted the van himself and it’s now out and about on the roads of the town.

Dean has completed plenty of charity work for Sheffield Children’s Hospital and he’s hoping to continue doing so with his new van - and his new social media presence is only going to help that.

His TikTok page ‘Deano’s Mobile Shop’ has garnered more than 1,300 followers and 200,000 views in less than a week.

He told the Chronicle: “I decided I wanted to buy some kind of a shop and then I’ve converted the van into a sweet shop and general grocery shop.

“I did it mainly for elderly and local people in Royston but at some point I’ll be getting in touch with Sheffield Children’s Hospital because I normally collect for them in charity boxes.

“In my old shop we used to raise a lot of money for the kids.

“That was in the Chronicle a few years ago and I was called the ‘candy man’ in that story and that’s stuck with me since.”

Dean admits he’s not the most tech-savvy person in the world but has been amazed by how far his videos have reached.

“My lad’s been dealing with the TikTok side of things,” he said.

“It’s gone absolutely crazy.

“I’d love to go all around Barnsley but I’d need a month to go everywhere.

“We’ve had messages from people all the way down in London asking if we can go down there.

“It’s great.”