A Dairy Crest milkman from Torquay is delivering his last pint today (1st May) after providing a sterling service to customers in the area for nearly 25 years. Alan Ashdown is parking his float and passing on his round for a well-deserved lie in.

Alan, 65, has been delivering milk from the Torquay depot on Parkfield Road since 1986, and says he still enjoys the early mornings. His milk round from Torquay takes him to areas of Heathfield and Bovey Tracey. In his time he's delivered over a staggering 4 million pints of milk to more than 600 customers.

Alan said: "Although I won't miss the alarm going off early, I will definitely miss being up at that time. The world is a beautiful place at that time of the morning"

"So much has changed over the past 20 years but I've never stopped delivering to my customers come rain, shine or a foot of snow! Back in the 80s everyone ordered semi-skimmed milk and then the occasional pint of orange juice or eggs. Today we have an online service called milk&more where customers can place and change orders up to 9pm at the night before I deliver. Now I deliver a huge range of products - the regular pint can now be anything from organic soya milk to 1% fat milk and then all sorts of other items from pet food and bin bags to croissants and bacon."

Alan says working outdoors and meeting all different people as the best bits of the job and looks forward to passing on his round to another milkman at the depot, "it's been a great round and I will miss it but it's definitely time for me to get some rest."

For anyone wishing to find a milkman who delivers in his or her area just log on to www.milkandmore.co.uk