Bob Edwards was born in Hastings, England in 1908. He moved to New Zealand in 1927 and, at the age of 105 is the oldest driver in New Zealand, possibly the world. He still drives around 60 miles per week to collect grocery shopping for himself and his wife.

He was born before the first Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line and learned to drive in a French car which was controlled by a lever instead of a steering wheel. He’s now been driving for 88 years and says he has no plans to stop. In that time he’s only ever been involved in one accident and been given one speeding ticket.

A few years ago Edwards broke his left hip and was told by doctors not to drive. He didn’t take much notice as he says he drives an automatic and he only needs his right leg for that!

In New Zealand drivers over the age of 80 must have health and sight tests every two years. A spokesperson from the New Zealand Transport Agency, Andy Knackstedt, overseas driver testing and state that facilitating older people being able to drive maintains their independence, mobility and dignity. “Our job is to balance this with the need to make sure our roads are safe” he says.

Edwards got his driving licence in 1925 and two years later moved to New Zealand after seeing an advertisement by the Salvation Army requiring young men to work on farms in England’s colonies. “They told me Canada was very cold, Australia was very hot but that New Zealand was just right” Edwards says “So I picked new Zealand.

Similarly in Michigan, USA, Margaret Dunning has been driving since she was 8 and obtained her driver’s licence aged just 12 (which we certainly wouldn’t recommend!) potentially making her time as a driver of 94 years the longest of anyone on the planet.

Dunning drives the same car today that she’s had since 1949, an 83 year old Packard 740 Roadster. It is in pristine condition, with Dunning changing her own oil and spark plugs, putting many younger drivers and younger cars to shame!

The final print edition of the iconic Autotrader magazine is to be published on 28^th June 2013.

The publication has been around for almost 40 years having been first printed in 1977. It was confirmed by Trader Media Group, (TMG) the company which owns Autotrader (among other titles) that from July 2013 the magazine would be available on an online format only.

This is undoubtedly in line with a sharp decline in sales for the print issue – from 368,000 at its peak in January 2000 plummeting to just 27,000 in April 2013. This decline goes hand in hand with a growth in demand from the digital versions of the site with Autotrader.co.uk receiving 11 million unique visitors per month and the mobile site being accessed by over 3.5 million users.

Zillah Byng Maddick, Interim CEO at TMG has confirmed that there has been “a marked shift by consumers and dealers to online platforms as a means of accessing information and buying and selling cars.”

The magazine was founded in 1977 and originally called the Thames Valley Trader. It was launched by businessmen John Madejski, ex chairman of Reading Football Club, and Paul Gibbons, Chairman of Leaderboard Golf Ltd. It was originally a forum for members of the public wishing to sell a variety of items. They realised that cars were the main draw and focussed the publication on this area.

The website went live in 1996 and has since become the number one digital marketplace in the UK for buying and selling new and used vehicles. It’s the end of an era for many to see this highly celebrated title end its days as a printed publication but with the final edition being the UK’s first magazine to issue a limited number of copies incorporating video content on the front cover they’re certainly going out in style!