BRITAIN'S longest-serving lorry driver has vowed to stay on the road despite preparing to celebrate his 80th birthday.
Dick Henderson is chalking up his 60th year as a haulage driver and apart from a two-day retirement in 2000 he has rarely missed a shift in the cab.
The soon-to-be octogenarian, who turns 80 on Monday, now works for his son Elliot's haulage business in the Borders town of Selkirk after realising the life of leisure was not for him.
"If you sit in the house you just sleep," he said. "I was fed up with retirement after two days.
"I like to be at work, getting a blether and getting out to meet the men you've known for years."
His 29-year-old grandson Gavin, who often shares the far-away driving duties with him, said: "We occasionally double up on long-distance jobs and it is a race to get in the driving seat.
"When I do get a shot at driving he's quick to tell me that he's reversed further than I've driven.
"My granddad is remarkable - he's as fit as a fiddle and is an inspiration to all of us."
Mr Henderson, the son of a shepherd, was born at a cottage in remote Craik, above Hawick, and later moved to Ashkirk.
Working life began on the farm in the days after World War II. But in 1955 he got his first taste of employment behind the wheel with a lime delivery firm in Hawick and then within the woods of Philiphaugh Estate near Selkirk.
Mr Henderson, who has three children and was widowed in the mid-1980s, was at the forefront of timber transportation with Thomas Mitchell's of Ettrickbridge in the 1960s and 70s.
Amongst the other companies he drove for in a career that took him the length and breadth of the UK was Jim Snowie's of Colvenfords. He spent his final 15 years before state-age retirement behind the wheel for James Baxter & Sons.
Within two days of collecting his first pension he was soon knocking on the door of his son's haulage business in Selkirk.
Elliot said: "He spent two days in the house and decided it wasn't for him.
"My dad is fitter than many men half his age, so I didn't think twice about giving him work.
"If he says he'll be there for five o'clock, he'll be there at 4.30. You don't get any more reliable than my dad."
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