The longest serving employee at the Morgan Motor Company arrived in style for his final day at work.

Brian Cole, who retired last Friday, was driven to the Malvern factory in one of the firm's famous sports cars.

Mr Cole, aged 72, had worked at Morgan for 56 years. He joined the company on November 10, 1948, and quickly earned the nickname of Knacker Cole, because he messed everything up.

However, he soon became familiar with the job and quickly became a mainstay of the production team.

All 58 members of staff at the Pickersleigh Road factory turned out to say farewell to Mr Cole, who was given a lifetime membership of Worcester racecourse as a parting gift.

Mr Cole, of Michael Crescent, Malvern said the Morgan Motor Company had been his "second home."

"I've made some really great friends here and I'm upset to be leaving them," he said.

"It's been a second home to me and now two of my sons are also working here. It's a very friendly place to work and I shall miss it.

"I would estimate I've worked on 20-30,000 cars over the years and it's going to be hard to let that go.

"I shall enjoy my days at the races though. They say never mix fast women and slow horses. Well, I've never had fast women, but I've backed a few slow horses in my time."

Mr Cole joked that his last day was the only day in 56 years that he had been late. The car was meant to take him to the factory at 1.15pm, but arrived five minutes later.

Charles Morgan, the company's managing director, was on hand to wish Mr Cole good luck.

"He is our longest serving employee and his loyalty shows the dedication that typifies the workforce here," he said.

"For me this is an incredibly sad day and I shall miss him a lot."