Peggy joins motoring elite

Peggy Weeks, who lives in Shooting Field, Steyning,

celebrated her 80th birthday in September.

She recently passed a two-hour advanced driving test, watched over by a police driver trainer, after taking a six-session course.

She said: "I have been driving for nearly 50 years. Cars have changed since then. I took the course because I wanted to tighten up my sloppy habits."

Peggy said she hadn't intended to go as far as taking the advanced test, but was encouraged to by her instructor.

"He said, 'Go on, go for it'. It was demanding. I was not aiming to pass the test. The point was to find out where I had got into bad habits and put them right."

Peggy hopes other older drivers will follow her lead and consider taking a course to brush up on their driving skills.

She said: "There aren't many 80-year-old women who pass the test, or who even take it. I hope others think, 'If she's going to do it, why don't I have a go?'. I think it's a good idea for people my age."

Peggy is pictured, left, with her Institute of Advanced Motorists certificate and one of her regular passengers '“ a shop dummy she has dubbed her "toy boy".

She first started travelling with it about 10 years ago, so as not to appear a vulnerable woman on her own in the car when driving late at night.

Peggy said: "Quite a lot of people know about it because I have taken him along to the talks I do. He is legless.

"I call him my eunuch because he ends at the waist."