A firefighter who was on the frontline during the Tottenham riots and helped with emergency planning during the Olympics, has retired.

Crew manager Pat Hegarty served as a firefighter for 28 years with the last three years spent at Ilford Fire Station, High Road, Ilford.

David Weighill, crew manager, said: “He’s one of the nicest fellows you will ever meet. He’s highly professional and knows the job inside out. He’s also very approachable and well respected.”

David said that Pat could always be relied on as a source of entertainment around the mess table.

He said: “He’s a man who knows a million useless facts. We’d be sitting around the mess table and he’d go, you know there’re no motorways in Norfolk, and a hundred and one other things. He’s very very funny.”