Faultless driver forced to give up his passion (From Stroud News and Journal)

Faultless driver forced to give up his passion

DESPITE clocking up 75 years of driving 91-year-old Ronald Archbold has never had a speeding ticket, a parking fine, a penalty point or a crash that was his responsibility.

Failing eyesight has just forced the Bussage resident who never had to take a driving test off the road and he is sorely missing his wheels.

"It was like having my legs cut off," he said. "At my age now it's the convenience that I miss. You walk to the shops come back and realise you've forgotten something. Normally, I would have hopped in the car and gone back and got it but now I can't.

"It's the independence more than anything else that I miss. "I've enjoyed every moment behind the wheel. Giving it up has been one of the worst things in the last 50 years of my life."

Driving has always been Mr Archbold's passion. His late wife Anne, who died 23 years ago used to tell him he was only happy when sitting behind the steering wheel.

He has lost count of the number of cars he has owned across a lifetime but reckons the total is around 30.

His first driving experience was taking his father to and from the station in a Ford V8. His first car was a two-seater Singer sports, followed by myriad models including Ford Tens, Zephyrs, Zodiacs, a Morris 12, a Triumph 2000, a Fiat 125, Vauxhalls, eight Citroens and his favourite, the Sunbeam Rapier.

But it was the Citroen that became his stock car. "I got a second hand one and discovered that it was absolutely out of this world, so I've stuck to them ever since," he said.

Born in London on December 25, 1912 six months after the Titanic sank, Ronald grew up in a time when the car was still very much a novelty, when horse and cart still delivered the coal.

"My brother lives in the highlands of Scotland and he can leave home and drive miles and if he sees four or five cars along the way he reckons it is a busy day," said Mr Archbold.

"It used to be like that down here when I first started. "Then you held your breath at 50mph, now you could do that in second," he said.

The fastest he has ever driven was 130mph down the M4 in his boss's Aston Martin DB6, in the halcyon days when congestion was unknown, speed limits unheard of and police few and far between.

"It was very nice," he said, recalling the experience. Most of his working life has been spent as a sales engineer then a consultant, work that involved long hours on the road.

He averaged around 1,000 miles a week, which made car comfort and economy a premium. But the days of four-wheel mobility, may not be quite up for Mr Archbold ...... he is thinking of buying himself an electric scooter.