On volunteer career

Former cop took patients to hospital appointments

FORMER Dundee police inspector Alex MacKenzie has hung up his car keys as a volu nteer d r iver ta k i ng pat ients to hospital after eight years.

Alex, 74, from the Kingsway, has bowed out of the service for patients receiving cancer treatment and kidney dialysis.

He was a welcome face to the small band of people he took to Ninewells Hospital and Arbroath Infirmary over the years.

He even visited them afterwards to check on their recovery.

Alex told how it all came about after meeting a former colleague at a rubbish dump.

He said: “I had retired from the police and one Sunday I was out throwing some stuff into skips at the Baldovie recyling plant when I bumped into a former colleague Bill Spence.

“He is with the St John Scotland group which does a lot of good work and he asked if I was doing anything.

“When I said I wasn’t, he asked if I would like to try being a volunteer driver to take patients to hospital. And that’s where it all started more than eight years ago.”

He added: “I took a small group of patients from various places such as Arbroath and Montrose as well as Dundee for oncology treatment and kidney dialysis.

“Sometimes I would be asked to take an extra passenger back from hospital and I enjoyed it.

“I would usually do it two or three days a week so quite regularly.”

Alex revealed that one of his journeys to hospital proved even more hazardous than his crime-fighting days when a wheel spun off a car and narrowly missed him.

“I can laugh about it now but it wasn’t funny at the time,” he said.

“I was coming back to Dundee from Montrose and I was going up a hill with a lady patient at around 1pm.

“A wheel suddenly came off the back of an approaching car and I had to swerve to avoid it.

“It just missed us and landed on the grass verge.

“It was a close thing but that was the only scary moment in my eight years.

“I even managed to avoid much of the bad weather.

“The A92 is not too bad and always seems well gritted.”

Alex joined the police in 1963 as a cadet in Aberdeen. He had spells in various parts of Scotland before moving to Dundee in 1970 and rose through the ranks to inspector.

He retired in 2005 and said of his career: “I certainly saw a lot of changes in that time, like going from batons to tasers.

“In fact, it was like going from wooden sticks to electronic devices. And now when I see an officer out on the beat, they have so much gear it is no wonder they suffer from sore backs.

“One thing that didn’t take off, but was very useful, was to send us young cops to a day release class for shorthand and typing.

“I did Pitman shorthand which came in very useful but I cannot remember a line of it now.”

Alex decided to bow out of volunteer driving after his wife Norma died aged 68 a couple of years ago, while one of the patients from Montrose died more recently.

He said: “Now I love spending time with my grandchildren and I think it’s important to focus on that.”