On tour: Michael Culverhouse with paramedics Julie Sheppard and Simone Gianni

A ­GREAT-GRANDFATHER who used to work at Camden ambulance station 60 years ago returned for a tour of his former workplace in a “dream come true”.

Michael Culverhouse, 89, was an ambulance driver in the 1960s, returning the emergency vehicles to their depot in Cressy Road at the end of a shift. Back then, ambulances looked a little different to how they do today.

Mr Culverhouse drove a Daimler ambulance, a white van with a long front.

He recalled: “There were no sirens like we have today. We had to ring a bell as we drove to our patients. “We only knew basic first aid training and had to quickly put patients on a stretcher and take them to hospital. It was very different to how crews treat people on scene now.”

He joined the ambulance service as an ambulance driver in 1962 when he was 28 years old and worked out of Camden and Battersea alongside his brother Macdonald.

Recalling his first ever response to an incident, he said: “A butcher boy had collapsed in Islington and there was lots of blood. But when we turned him over we saw the blood was actually from all the meat he was carrying and he wasn’t badly injured at all. There were difficult jobs though. Those calls stay with your forever.

“It was an absolute privilege working for the ambulance service. I really loved caring for people.”

Mr Culverhouse left in 1965, the year when the present-day London Ambulance Service was formed from parts of nine existing services in the new county of Greater London.

He continued his passion for driving and helping others with a stint as a bus driver for autistic children. He toured the building with his wife Vicki this week.

They thanked paramedic Simone Gianni and assistant ambulance practitioner Julie Sheppard for coming to his aid when his blood count was low and he required urgent medical attention back in October.

Ms Sheppard said: “Meeting Michael again and showing him round the station where he worked 60 years ago was just amazing. You can see how much the visit meant to him and his wife. Vicki kept looking at me and saying ‘it’s a dream come true’. He’s always wanted to come back.”

Ms Culverhouse said: “It was so lovely to visit the team at Camden. He loved his time at the ambulance service and always has taken an interest in what London Ambulance Service does.”