COACH-MAD Anthony Griffiths has clocked up more than 100,000 miles on the road to nowhere in particular - starting and finishing at his local bus stop.

The fanatical odd job man's latest trip will take him 3,000 miles with a £35.70 ticket on his favourite National Express services.

Anthony is to take four days on a trip from Blackburn's Boulevard bus station, stopping in turn at London, Penzance, Glasgow, Inverness, Glasgow, Penzance and London then back to Blackburn Boulevard.

Anthony, 52, of Heaton Street, Blackburn, started travelling on coaches after disability forced him out of his job as a driver. And the National Express £9.99 offer for the over-50s has been just the ticket he needed to fulfil his urge to travel.

The full price of his epic trip using four buses would normally cost £103.75.

He said: "I don't like the places where the coaches stop - I just like to travel on them. "I always sit right at the front and cannot help myself from checking the driver's mirrors and moving my feet for the pedals. It's just force of habit.

"A lot of the crews and drivers know me quite well."

Anthony, who does odd jobs voluntarily for several Blackburn businesses, worked as a driver for 25 years before injuring his arm in a driving accident in 1991.

He has more than made up for his forced retirement with hundreds of trips since coming through a marriage break-up.

He added: "Whenever I get the urge, I go on a coach journey. I will usually travel at least once a week.

"On Tuesday night I went on a 500-mile trip to London, waited two and half hours for the return coach, and then came back to Blackburn."

Anthony is hoping for a place in the record books after his trip, which will start on stand P of the Boulevard bus station at 4.30pm on Monday.

He added: "My favourite journey of all is the 336 service to the South West from Preston, but I do not do it very often.

"The most memorable was when I went to London for Princess Diana's funeral, but this will be my biggest trip so far."

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