A 79-year-old believes he could be the biggest bleeder in the borough.

Peter Johnson claims he has donated blood more than 150 times having first drained his veins at the age of 17.

He was inspired to get in touch after reading about Alan Reynolds, who we featured in this paper after he reached the 75 donation landmark.

But Mr Johnson, a retired council worker from Coulsdon, has doubled that number of donations.

He has been awarded two separate gold cards, given when someone donates 50 times, and has a special commemorative plaque from his 100th donation.

He said: “If I did not have to stop at 75 I would have carried on giving.

“I would go wherever they wanted me to go “I have never met anybody who has donated more than me.

“I tried to get my friends to do it but they were worried it was going to hurt.”

He said he had served in Korea in the armed forces and was not scared of “anything living”.

He first donated as someone had told him about it and decided to give it a go.

He recalled some of the more relaxed days of blood donation, such as giving twice in one day – one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

And he was even offered a post-donation cigarette after one of his first donations.

Things have changed since then but Mr Johnson lamented the lack of centres available for donations.

He said: “They should be in more school halls and communities.

“They used to be close by.”