Dating Vouchers Express Mortgages Express Loans Bingo Lose Weight Franchising Mobile Recycle Shopping Book Shop Compare Broadband Wine Shop Legal Store FlatShare Cruises

RETIREMENT

BRITAIN'S SAFEST DRIVER

George's first car was Ford Model T

Wednesday October 21,2009

By Jo Willey

IT’S BEEN a long road for George Geeson, who’s driven almost a million miles over 84 years.

But the 99-year-old can claim to be Britain’s oldest and safest driver, because in all that time he’s only had one slight accident – and even that was down to another driver who shunted into his car in 1958.

George started driving at the age of 15 in 1925.

His first spell at the wheel was in a Ford Model T, but as an apprentice earning just a penny an hour he could not afford to buy his own car until Christmas Day 1935.

The former garage owner bought a Willys-Overland Whippet for two pounds ten shillings (£2.50). The American-made vehicle had wooden wheels, no front brakes and a starting handle to fire the engine.

Despite never taking a driving test, George has owned and driven dozens of cars and motorbikes since then without a single serious mishap and has never even had a ticket.

The grandfather from South Witham, near Grantham, Lincs, said: “Back in those days you didn’t have to pass a driving test. They just handed you the licence.

“I’ve always said that if I stayed on the right side of the law I’d no reason to be scared of anyone or anything. We used to think 60mph was fast but now people seem to do 100mph and that’s too fast for me.

“I’ve always been careful. Even the one accident I had was down to somebody else.

“Over the years I’d say I’ve probably driven more than 800,000 or 900,000 miles, but now I just enjoy going back and forth to the shops.”

George and his brother Leonard opened the Fox Garage on the A1 in Lincolnshire in 1932 when it was the Great North Road. They sold it in 1965 and ran a motorcycle museum, with more than 85 bikes, until 1990.