Digger driver, 76, clocks up 55 years at Derbyshire quarry

Colleagues said Gerald Lees was "superb"

A quarry worker celebrating 55 years in the job has said he has no plans to retire any time soon.

Gerald Lees was taken on at Longcliffe Quarry, near Wirksworth in Derbyshire, in April 1968 and is still going strong as the driver of its biggest digger.

Quarry bosses said 76-year-old Mr Lees was their most experienced employee so had been entrusted to take the controls of an £800,000 excavator weighing 90 tonnes.

Mr Lees said he loved his job.

His role includes making sure the parts of the quarry the dumper lorries need to access are safe and flat while extracting aggregate from the quarry face.

Mr Lees, from Parwich in Derbyshire, said: "I just like what I'm doing and there's nothing else I want to do.

"I started in the bagging shed (in 1968) but then a chap left who worked on the loading shovels so I went on to that.

"When I first started at Longcliffe my [weekly] wage was about the same as I get for a hour now and the first loader I drove cost £7,500.

"I've seen a lot of change."

Mr Lees' mangers said it was hard to stop him working

He added: "I'm carrying on because I like seeing the blokes at work and mixing with them."

He said coming to work was a way of life for him and he would not change it for the world.

The quarry's development director Ian McDonald, Mr Lees' former manager, said: "His expertise, his knowledge and competency are very valued."

He said Mr Lees was rarely off work but added: "He has had two hip replacements and when he isn't here, he is missed.

"He also makes a good cup of tea, apparently.

"The toughest thing about managing Gerald was getting him to go home and take his holidays."

Colleague Stephen Roper said: "He is here every day. It'll be very hard to find another Gerald. He's superb."