A FRUIT and veg man with four decades experience is changing his career after claiming 'markets are dying.'

Now Alan Wilkinson, 53, aims to work as an ambulance driver taking the elderly to hospital appointments, after closing his stall on Darwen's Annexe market.

He says he is devastated to give up the trade which he loves after following his father into the market profession at the age of 14 and has had the A and S Wilkinson stall in Darwen for 23 years.

He said work had always been a joy until two years ago, when the struggle to survive took its toll. Supermarkets had taken over as markets floundered, unable to cope with their 'all under one roof' service.

He believes the national chains will never be able to match the service found on markets and said his customers had become his friends.

He now plans to have an extended break from work and get markets out of his system before trying to launch a different career.

Alan, of Kings Road, Blackburn, said: "The market is a friendly little place and I'm sorry to be going, but if I don't do it now I never will.

"I have got 12 years left in me and if I left it another two years nobody would want me. I have had enough and feel like a change.

"Markets are dying now. They are part of the town and if you kill them you will kill the town. Everyone goes to supermarkets and goes around as fast as they can. But we know our customers and their families.

"It had always been a pleasure to go to work, I have been lucky. But for the last two years it has felt like hard work. It has all changed and it has become an effort to come here.

"It's a sad day. It's a shame to go. It's a big blow to lose something I have done all my life."

For a farewell, fellow traders presented him with gifts.

Butcher John Turner, who has been next to Alan for nearly a quarter of a century in the market, said: "He will be missed and it will leave a hole in this place, he's a good bloke.

"There are so many vacant stalls on the market now."

Tony Conway has the nearby locksmiths, and has known Alan for 20 years. He said: "He will be missed. He's a top man and is brilliant at what he does.

"It's a shame that such a skill will be wasted, but it's a sign of the times. It's difficult now because of supermarkets. But it's dying on its feet."