Woman, 105, could be oldest driver in Britain

But 105 years later, Britain's oldest driver says she would not be without her little runaround.

Mrs Thomson first took to the roads in the early 1930s in a Galloway saloon that would be a museum piece today.

The remarkable centenarian, from Broughty Ferry near Dundee, enjoyed more than 70 years of trouble-free motoring until a slight prang with a parked car a couple of months ago.

She said: "It ruined my no-claims bonus. I'd never claimed for anything in 70 years of driving and I told the woman from the insurance company so."

Mrs Thomson, who turned 105 last month, still drives her current car, a Peugeot 106, almost every day.

She said: "As long as I have my own wee car, I am my own person. I can get in it and go about and do what I want." She has never taken the driving test - because it was not introduced until 1935.

Not that the driving experience of the mid-1930s would bear much relation to being behind the wheel these days anyway.

Back then, no one had heard of motorways, filter lanes, flyovers or ring roads.

She said: "Now there are traffic lights and roundabouts all over the place and those ghastly speed humps. I can remember when it was quite a sight to see a car on the roads. I can vividly remember the horse and carts in Dundee, as well as the trams. It doesn't seem that long ago.

"But times have changed so much. It doesn't even seem like the same place I grew up in."

Her recent bump came during her Sunday church run. But her confidence remains undented.

She said: "I had been at church and the street is very narrow there. A man was loading things into his car but was doing it with the door open on the road side and I came along and hit it.

"It was my fault. But what a trouble out of nothing he made of it!"

The DVLA will only issue a three-year licence to anyone over the age of 70 if they can prove they are healthy enough to drive.

This is not a full driving test and depends mainly on providing medical certificates.