100 Year Old Drivers Episode 1 | presscentre - ITV.com

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week33/100-year-old-drivers

Episode: 1 of 1

Transmission: Wed 13 Aug 2014

Time: 8.00pm - 9.00pm

Week: Week 33 2014 : Sat 09 Aug - Fri 15 Aug

Channel: ITV

Status: New

Published: Tue 29 Jul 2014

The information contained herein is embargoed from press use, commercial and non-commercial reproduction and sharing from this site - in the public domain - until Tuesday 5 August 2014.

 

"I don't want to drive like an old... I'm not an old man! I've got my licence 'til 2016, but I don't think I've got a licence for myself 'til 2016, I think I shall be gone before then.” - 100-year-old driver Harry Kartz

 

This new documentary for ITV hits the road with some of Britain’s oldest drivers to discover why and how they still get behind the wheel.

 

There are nearly 200 drivers over the age of 100 in the UK. Motorists over the age of 70 must reapply through the post for a driving licence every three years but are not automatically re-tested.

 

This programme hears first-hand from those aged over 100, from those heading towards the milestone age and from their families about their motoring habits.

 

It also asks whether elderly motorists should be regularly re-tested on their skills. But as this vivid portrayal of elderly drivers finds out, prising car keys from the hands of a senior motorist can be the most difficult step of all - potentially depriving them of their freedom and independence.

 

We meet centurion Bomber Command veteran Harry Kartz who drives to the betting shop and back every day; Retired school teacher Mary Walker, 100, who is one of just 59 women over the century mark still driving; and Searson Thompson, who at 102 years old could be Britain's oldest driver and relishes the freedom of getting behind the wheel.

 

Others who feature in the programme are Ken and Edna Medlock, 99 and 98 respectively, who are still in love and drive to the seaside for a date by the sea; Basil Smith, 93, who is tested by a driving instructor to see if he is still up to the task;  Sheila Collinson, 102, who has recently had her car keys taken off her by her daughters, and is furious; author Val Biro, 92, who has a classic car to contend with; and Harry Johnson, 91, who is getting back on his motorcycle after 18 months off it.

 

In Solihull, John Kartz arrives to inspect his dad's driving. At 100, Harry has been on the road for 86 years, and maintains his driving is better than ever.

 

He says: “I'm not dangerous now. I used to be. I've written off three cars you see. This is the Daimler

Jag I had, and I hit another car head on and finished up in Walsall Hospital with a fractured spine.”

 

Mary Walker, also 100 and counting, remains defiant: “It's exhilarating, going fast. People that drive slowly, they frustrate you. How fast do I like to go? I don't think I ought to answer that.

 

“I don't feel old, why should I feel old? There's nothing you can do about reaching 100, you can't put the brakes on and say "stop". That's it. You're there and you've got to put up with it.”

 

Searson Thompson lives in Aberdyfi, Wales, with the nearest shops five miles up the coast. He took to the road 88 years ago performing stunts on motorbikes, and admits the secrets of his long life are, ‘Wine, women and whisky.’

 

He says: “I drive because I fetch my own food. I drive because I'm on my own. I drive because I'm completely self-sufficient. If I were to stop driving now... I'd vegetate in my own home, and I wouldn't be able to get out.”

 

Ken and Edna Medlock, meanwhile, are heading to the seaside for a romantic date. Ken says he is determined not just to give up in his old age: “We're not regarding ourselves as, 'Oh well, we've had our life and now let's shut ourselves up and just wait for the end.’ We're just carrying on as though we were 60 and with a long time in front of us.”

 

Basil Smith, now 93, has his own way of staying young - by keeping fit and driving. This week, Basil plans to be assessed by an experienced driving instructor to decide whether it's time to hand

in the keys.

 

He says: “If the driving instructor failed me and said I wasn't good enough then I'd have to pack in driving. It would be a shock. It would hit me for six, I'm afraid.

 

“I don't want to lose my driving licence. It is essential for me, driving, because the place where we live, I've got to have a car. It gets lonely in the bungalow in the evenings, I'm there on my own, you know, and no-one to talk to anything like that. But I look on the bright side and doesn't get me down very long.”

 

Not everyone is willing to leave their parent with the keys - Gail Fulton recently stopped her 102-year-old mother Sheila Collinson from driving, against her wishes. The final straw for Gail came when Mrs Collinson struggled to get into a turning lane on the way to her daughter’s house and ended up getting lost for more than two hours. Gail says: “She won't accept it because she still feels that she's capable. Well as she says, ‘I've been doing this for 100 years,’ and you can't argue with that.”

 

She's been driving for 79 years but Sheila’s not happy about her new life as a passenger, and jokingly threatens to cut her daughter out of her will.

 

She says: “Well I can't do anything else. I haven't got a car, unless somebody's going to come and give me a new car. Perhaps I could get a boyfriend who had a car. No I don't understand the time had come. I don't think it was necessary.”

 

Val Biro, a children’s author, drives the car which is the star of his books - a 1926 Austin 12 nicknamed Gumdrop. At 92, he admits his car gives him independence.

 

He says: “I shall be hugely isolated if I couldn't drive. It gives me a dimension of mobility which I haven't got on my own legs. To be allowed to get into a car and drive it gives me a varied life, which I appreciate hugely.”

 

It's a big day for 91-year old former Navy officer Harry Johnson. He's about to hit the road for the first time in 18 months on his vintage Honda 250cc SuperDream Deluxe motorcycle. After a shaky start, he gets into the swing of it, and admits that keeping active with things like the motorcycle has helped him get over the loss of his wife 16 years ago.

 

He says: “There was a big readjustment after you lose somebody, yes, certainly. I wouldn't say that I still talk to my wife, but I used to for a little while, and if for example I saw something particularly lovely then I would always say "I wish you could see this through my eyes". But there's nothing you can do about it.”