As the NHS celebrates its 65th birthday, a former ambulance driver from Coulsdon has spoken of his experience of more than 40 years on the job.

Pete Bedford joined Surrey Ambulance Service from the Air Force in 1954, six years after the NHS was founded.

Six years later the 80-year-old moved on to work for Croydon Ambulance Service, which later became part of the London Ambulance Services.

Mr Bedford, who was in his early twenties at the time, drove a Daimler ambulance dating back from 1948. The vehicle was fitted with a bell which would ring on the way to calls.

The grandfather-of-five said: "What I loved about the job from the start was that when you went to work, you didn’t know what you were going to be called to.

"There was no routine- one day would be quiet and the next you would go out first thing and not get back to the end of the shift and you might go to nasty accidents or something more minor."

Mr Bedford said one memorable incident was when a man who had been to watch Crystal Palace play and was late for his train. He was running to Thornton Heath railway station and fell in front of a train.

REcalling the incident he said: "He lost an arm but we got him out and I remember that he and his parents were really grateful – I guess you could say we saved his life."

Mr Bedford, a father of three, completed 41 years in the ambulance service before retiring aged 65 in 1998.

Thinking back on his career he said: "You could never get bored working on an ambulance, it wasn’t like doing an office job or delivery round. I could not have imagined doing anything else."

Vicki Hurst, London Ambulance Service's Community Involvement Officer for Croydon said: ""It’s fantastic to meet people like Pete, who dedicated his life to saving others for so many years.

"Celebrating 65 years of the NHS makes you think about how much the NHS and in particular the ambulance service has changed over the decades."