Oldest serving police officer in the UK retires

The longest serving police officer in the UK is to step down later today after 47 years of service, the Metropolitan Police announced.

Police Constable Mick Mountain applied to the force back in 1966, the same year John Lennon declared the Beatles “bigger than Jesus”.

At the tender age of 19, Pc Mountain began his first shift at Wimbledon Police Station, and rose all the way to the dizzying heights of the Palace of Westminster.

The 66-year-old said policing was “the most fantastic” job as he reflected on a career spanning six decades.

Pc Mountain has arrested thousands of criminals, worked under eleven Commissioners, policed the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees, had his nose broken three times and had a gun pointed at him twice - all during his 47 years service.

The father of two often found himself at the centre of the action throughout his career – notably at the 1982 Brixton rights, the Lewisham riots in 1977 and the Southall riots in 1979.

During the Brixton riots, Pc Mountain and his colleagues dodged petrol bombs and tried to contain the violence.

Pc Mountain also travelled out of London to police the miners' strikes no less than eight times and can recall Southall riots in 1979 and Lewisham riots in 1977, when they used riot shields for the first time.

However, his most memorable arrest was on Wimbledon Common, where he wrestled a man brandishing a grenade.

In 1995 Pc Mountain transferred to the Palace of Westminster, where he has worked for 18 years doing what he enjoys most about policing - meeting people.

He said:

Sergeant Malcolm Buchanan, his line manager said: "Mick has been a flexible and accommodating member of my team. He is an individual who is not easily flustered, is self-confident and communicates easily with everyone from all walks of life.

Now a licensed cab driver, Pc Mountain intends on spending his retirement with his ever growing family and visiting his second home in Spain.