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Non-stop service! EYMS's Tony has not had a sick day in 35 years

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HE HAS worked in the same office for 50 years and can barely remember ever taking a day off sick.

Tony Randerson, planning manager at East Yorkshire Motor Services, is always the first in the office at 6.30am.

He spends a few hours making sure everything is in order before starting his working day helping to look after routes for about 200 buses.

Despite having the technology to create graphs using a computer, Tony prefers to do it with a pencil and paper.

He said: "I can't believe it's been 50 years since I started working in the office in Anlaby Road.

"It was so long ago I can't really remember my interview, but I must have done well, unless they were just short-staffed at the time.

"The schedules office used to be in an attic and we've moved all over the building over the years. I now have a nice office with a wonderful view."

Tony, 66, of Sutton Park, started his first shift on Monday, August 12, 1963, a time when there were also bus conductors working alongside drivers.

As chief tea-maker and junior in the schedule's office, Tony started to work his way up the ranks.

He said: "The shift sheets were all hand-written in those days and mistakes were more likely to be made.

"Now we use computers and a scheduling aid, it's a lot better.

"But I still like to draw out the bus graphs in pencil because they are easier to understand."

He said he expects to get complaints when buses do not arrive on time but EYMS gets it right "most of the time".

Staff at the depot made sure Tony celebrated his 50 years of loyal service in style by decorating a bus with a huge banner and pinning up balloons and posters around the office.

"I'm always the first in so they didn't have chance to do it before I got to work," Tony said. "But they got me to go downstairs and have a look at the bus while they decorated the place.

"I've really enjoyed working for EYMS and have no plans to retire at the moment."

Tony, who is also a rugby referee and was an in-goal judge at the 1996 Challenge Cup between Bradford and St Helen's at Wembley, was told to leave his car at home because of secret drinks with past and present colleagues after work. But when he jumped on a bus to get to the office, the driver let slip that it was because of his party that evening.

Tony said: "It was meant to be a secret but I'd already figured out something was happening.

"My colleagues have all been brilliant and they say they can't find a sick form on my record. I know I have had a day off sick in the past but it hasn't been in the past 35 years and I even came in with a pot on my leg.

"I'd broken my ankle playing rugby and it's what made me want to become a referee having been interested in it."

When he is not involved in rugby or surrounded by bus timetables, Tony often visits his daughter Karen Milner and two grandchildren, Owen, 13, and Matthew, ten.

Tony still loves to be at work, and even "mucks in" by driving the buses on school runs when they are struggling to cover a job.

Tony's colleagues have described him as a "perfect employee" and after 50 years, they feel he is a character worth celebrating.


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Non-stop service! EYMS's Tony has not had a sick day in 35 years


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