World's Oldest Paper Boy

17 February 2010, 07:27 | Updated: 17 February 2010, 07:43

A pensioner from Dorchester has been named the world's oldest ever paper boy.

90-year-old Ted Ingram has been doing his beloved round for a staggering 68 years.

During his career that has spanned seven decades the pensioner has dropped more than 500,000 papers through doors in the village of Winterborne Monkton, near Dorchester.

Incredibly, there have only been two days when his customers haven't received their papers - and that was when bad snow storms prevented the copies from getting to him.

And even when Ted broke his back in the 1950s he arranged for his late wife Betty to deliver the papers in their village while he was laid up.

Now Ted has been recognised by the Guinness World Records as the longest serving paperboy in history - and he has vowed to carry on until 100.

Ted said: "I love my round. I don't make any money out of it now, I do it for the village and because I enjoy it and it keeps me fit.

"I can't believe I am a record holder at my age, but I don't feel any different. If my health lets me I will go on until I am 100."

But just recently Ted has had to swap his push bike for his Peugeot 106 car while he recovers from a recent hip replacement operation.

He said: "I'll be using my car until I can get on my bike again. I am currently delivering to 10 houses six days a week, it can take me 20 minutes to do the round, I like to stop and chat to the neighbours."

A spokesman for Guinness World Records said: "The record for the longest serving paperboy in the world is Darlyne Markus in Idaho, USA.

"She started in 1958 at the age of 29 and continued to do so until November 21, 2008, when she reached the age of 79, a period of 50 years and 173 days."

Guinness are now in the process of contacting Ted to verify his claim and officially crown him a world record holder.