Today we say a very fond farewell to Morleys longest serving team member Phillip 'Jeff' Jeffries as he begins his retirement. Jeff has been driving for Morleys since 1976 and has done deliveries in every corner of the UK from Cornwall to Scotland, easily covering over 1.5 million miles around the country. We caught up with him before he set off on his final delivery job before retiring, to find out a little more about his time at Morleys and some of his best memories. Happy Retirement Jeff!

What's changed since your first drive?

Trucks are a lot better now. Back then there were no such thing as sleeper cabs so I'd have to sleep in the back or across the driver seats. There were no fridges or heaters. It's luxury stuff now. When I started you'd write up your jobs in a log book to write how many hours, kept on paper, and draw a line across the drops you'd done to keep track. It's all digital now. I used to go into London with 7.5tonne truck, and if I ran out of hours there would be a particular stop off at Hemel Hempstead where I'd have to park up for the night and head home the next morning.

What has been your favourite job or customer?
All my customers are special, out of all of them 99% are my favourites. I honestly love them all and they're all great.

What will you miss most about Morleys?
I'll miss the people, I get on with absolutely everyone (and put up with the others!) I'll miss being out and about on the road all week long, but I won't miss the driving part. Other drivers have got worse over the years.

What are you looking forward to about retirement?
I don't know, I've never done it before! I'm looking forward to spending more time at home and I'm looking forward to spending more time doing my drawings. I love drawing, and I can copy any picture or drawing perfectly. I enjoy cartoon drawing especially, Disney are some of my favourite to do. Hopefully I'll be back to deliver some of my drawings to the team soon.

Some of the many compliments and messages we've received praising Jeff's hard work and wonderful personality

I am writing to express my thanks and appreciation for the delivery driver who visited us today. He was extremely helpful and patient, if only every delivery driver we encounter was as courteous and willing to help it would make life so much easier!

Hoylake Holy Trinity,
The Wirral

The delivery driver was fabulous, he is an asset to your company and I commend him for his hard work and dedication to your company.

St Teach SP School, Cornwall

I wanted to say what a very pleasant, well mannered and courteous driver you have. He never complained and was very polite. When we get such an exceptionally nice driver I feel that it needs to be acknowledged.

St Mary's RC Primary School,
Manchester