A machine driver from Telford has retired after an incredible 50-year career with award-winning construction firm McPhillips.
Mark Busby, aged 66, joined the company as a labourer in March 1975 when he was just 16-years-old.
Now after five decades of unbroken service, Mark, known to his colleagues as Buzz, has handed back the keys to his machine and finally retired.
McPhillips directors Paul Inions, Andrew Dunhan and Stuart MacKenzie paid tribute to him and presented him with a framed certificate to mark his 50 years of dedication.
They said: “From the age of 16, Mark has helped us build some of the finest projects McPhillips has delivered. Fifty years of skill, dedication and sheer hard work – on site, every day without fail. That is something truly special. Thank you Mark. It has been an honour.”
Reflecting on how he first came to drive machines, Mark said: “I was a country boy, and by the time I was 8, I could drive a tractor and trailer. It was a handy skill to have on a building site.
“We were doing a civils job and there was an old Shawnee Poole – a big machine with a massive trailer with hydraulic tipper on it. One of the drivers was trying to bounce it up the kerb, but his wheels kept spinning and he couldn’t do it. There was a large drop and a couple of deep ruts and he literally got it stuck.
“I said to the foreman ‘Do you want me to back it out for you?’ I was only 16 and he looked at me and said ‘who do you think you’re kidding?' So I jumped in, started it up, gave it a bit of acceleration – job done. He asked me how I’d learned to drive like that… and after that I just stayed on the machines.”
Over the course of his career Mark drove pretty much every type of machine going: tracks, mini diggers, backhoe loaders.
“I remember I had an old JCP or Whitlock, a massive antique machine – you could put a gang of blokes behind the seat it was so big. I took it down the Eastern Primary and the roof blew off.”
Getting the keys to a brand-new machine was a bit like ‘new car day’: “It was great when you got a new machine – in my last one, the air conditioning was better than in my car.”
And he was quick to remember the days on site before modern technology!
"Back in those days you always had to make sure you had a pocket full of two pence pieces - for the phone box. That was your mobile phone! I'd go to the phone box, ring head office and say, 'I want 3 metres of concrete on Tuesday, 40 ton of gravel on Wednesday, 60 ton of stone on Thursday'. Whoever was on the other end of the phone, probably Mrs Mac most of the time, would write it all down and it would just turn up the next week. Nowadays you can get hold of anybody, anywhere in the world, at any time you want. But then, you had to find the nearest phone box and make sure you had enough change."
When asked to pinpoint his most memorable project in 50 years, Mark didn’t hesitate: it was a job sinking large shafts that required precise manoeuvring of heavy steel rings weighing about four tons each.
“It was the project where I learned the most, because I was doing something I’d never done before. Those shafts must have been seven or eight metres deep.”
Inevitably, 50 years wasn’t all plain sailing. Mark said he’d handed his notice in ‘at least 3 times’ – usually ‘when a foreman with an attitude’ annoyed him.
But ultimately, his long tenure was shaped by strong personal relationships – notably with McPhillips founder Jim McPhillips.
“He was a grand bloke, an absolute gentleman. After I passed my driving test, Jim asked me if I was going to get a car but I told him I couldn't afford one: I had two kids and we were living in Donnington at the time. He offered to lend me the money, but I said no thank you.
"Then one day he just said, 'Come with me a minute,' took me round the back of the yard and pointed to a little mustard-coloured Toyota 1000. He said, 'It's yours if you want it.' I couldn't believe it. He'd bought me a car. He said he'd just take a little bit from my wages each week and I wouldn't even notice it. That was Jim."
Accepting well wishes from colleagues, Mark said: “It’s been a good career, I’ve enjoyed it. I’m sad to leave the lads and I’ll miss the banter but I think it’s time. Thanks for everything.”
Mark is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and many grandchildren, as well as getting back to brewing his own beer from his home in Shifnal.
