SOUTHAMPTON: Cream of the crop! Milkman Maurice has delivered a lotta bottles in his time

COME rain, sleet or snow, he has always delivered on time but now, after almost 50 years, Maurice's float has finally run out of milk.

Milkman Maurice Parsons has helped keep the people of Bitterne in Southampton topped up with pintas since the 1950s.

Age has finally caught up with the Dairy Crest man. At 65 he has decided enough is enough and is putting the lid on his job for the last time. In fact, father-of-two Maurice only got into the job by accident as he applied for a post while waiting to go to university, but then never left.

He said: "I've seen lots of changes in my time, but the difference in the transport is the biggest, especially going along Manor Park Road where I've always delivered.

"Back at the start, it was all done with horses and carts, and people would always stop and feed the animals on the way round.

"In fact I think they used to enjoy seeing the horses as much as they did their milkman!"

It was one of the horses that got him into the most trouble during his half-century on the road.

He said: "Because they got so used to the food they were given, sometimes they would refuse to move on until they had been fed.

"One day I remember stopping off for a cup of tea, but the lady next door who always came out to give the horses a treat was away.

"Anyway the horses didn't like that and decided to get themselves a snack, but sadly that turned out to be ten beds of chrysanthemums which another neighbour had just finished planting.

"By the time we got back to the depot the lady had already reported us and we were fined 10/- (10 bob/shillings). From that day on, all milkmen in Southampton had to put feed bags on their horses whenever they stopped, to stop it happening again."

Maurice, of Ashburnham Close, said gardening was now going to be top of his agenda along with seeing his four grandchildren.

He said: "I will miss the job, but my old knees are suffering and that's the main reason I'm stopping.

"I have always enjoyed my time as a milkman, and although sometimes when it's been wet and dark I haven't wanted to go out to deliver, the truth is you meet so many wonderful people in this line of work that it's been a pleasure doing it."