Former fireman Alan Head was given a send-off to remember when he retired after 40 years.

Alan, 65, was expecting a few words and a quiet lunch with colleagues when he retired as a fire safety expert from Brighton and Hove Council.

Instead he was handed a fireman's axe and brass helmet and told to put on an old fashioned firefighter's uniform.

Waiting outside Alan's office at Hove Town Hall was a vintage 1929 open fire engine which took him on a tour of Brighton and Hove.

For Alan, who spent 30 years as a fireman in East Sussex before joining the council, the trip brought memories flooding back.

As a new recruit at Hove fire station back in 1960 he answered 999 calls in an identical Dennis Pump-Escape engine.

Alan said: "It was a brilliant surprise. I was amazed when I saw the old engine outside the town hall. I had no idea what they were planning.

"It was quite an experience when we used to go out on those engines. You had to hold on with one arm and get dressed with the other.

"We even went back past the old Hove fire station in Hove Street where I first started. It really was a trip down Memory Lane."

As a fireman Alan also worked at Brighton fire station and the force's Lewes headquarters.

One of the last, and most memorable, incidents he attended was the aftermath of the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel.

He said: "We were the second watch down there. The thing I remember was that it was so quiet, not like a normal fire where you have got the roar of flames and the noise of hoses being run up. People were still trapped and the rescue work was going on quietly."

Alan maintained his links with the fire service at Brighton and Hove Council where he worked as a technical officer, dealing with fire safety in houses in multiple occupation.

Colleagues Nigel Divers, John Head (no relation) and Chris Wyndham came up with the idea of giving Alan a VIP send-off in the engine which was originally based in Hove and is now owned by the council.

John and Chris, both ex-firemen, also put on uniforms for the trip.

Nigel, a senior environmental health officer, said: "We wanted to give Alan a last 'shout' to recognise his 40 years of service to public safety in Brighton and Hove.

"Like all ex-firemen he often talked about his days in the brigade."