By night he is a lorry driver and by day he takes pictures – with one of them scooping the top prize in the Future of Past Places photography competition.

To enter the contest people had to identify the locations depicted in five historical images, then explore Croydon to discover these locations for themselves before getting creative and photographing them.

And after the shortlist was announced on June 27 members of the public voted online and at Fairfield Halls – with Steve Wallington’s shot of Surrey Street market as night fell emerging as the winner.

Mr Wallington, who works as a lorry driver for Royal Mail, said: “I was passing and looked down and thought, ‘There’s a shot there’.”

The 58-year-old said he used to do a lot of photography with a film camera before his two children were born and this is the first competition he has won with a digital camera.

He added: “It’s a good feeling to have won.”

His prize is to shadow a Croydon Guardian photographer for the day and also a £150 Centrale shopping centre gift card.

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The runner up was Jane Pittard with her pump house picture (above), in which she captured the old building alongside the modern sculpture of Ronnie Corbett.

She said: “I was really chuffed when I heard I was the runner-up because I thought the other entries were fantastic.

“The pump house area will be part of the regeneration when Westfield Hammerson comes and it will be Croydon’s future as well as the past.”

She also wins a day shadowing one of our photographers, and a £100 Centrale gift card.

The contest was run by the Whitgift Foundation with the Croydon Guardian as part of the Croydon Heritage Festival.