VINTAGE car enthusiast John Coleman has just returned to his Hampshire home in his Morris Minor after four weeks, 2,700 miles and remarkably no breakdowns on an epic drive.

The 80-year-old took his beloved Trafalgar blue 1968 car from Southampton to John O'Groats in Scotland, stopping off at two Morris Minor rallies and to see family and friends.

Apart from an initial problem with the ignition that he soon fixed, and one of the windscreen wipers not working properly, the journey took place without a hitch.

"I had been to South America and Europe but never to Scotland which is on my doorstep so I decided to go and discover the country," he said.

Its not the first time the former English and Latin teacher, of Hook village, Warsash, has enjoyed getting behind the wheel on the open road.

He drove from Buenos Aires to New York in a 1925 Austin 7 Chummy in 1960 and during the 1950s took his Morris Minor across Europe.

Mr Coleman, a widower whose passion for Morris Minors started in 1948, said: "I got the bug - and my first black Tourer Morris Minor eight years later."

Mr Coleman, who has a son and a daughter and three grandchildren, said this latest journey would be his last lengthy one although he would continue to indulge his passion for cars through shorter trips.