UK milkman hits a sour note

KEVIN Gifford used to whistle while he worked — until his bosses put a stop to it.

The 52-year-old father of three is a milkman in Leicester, England, where he delivers to 340 houses a day. He whistled and sang while performing his early morning rounds, but five residents complained. Now the dairy he works for has told him to stop and issued him with a formal warning.

Gifford said a whistling milkman was a “part of British life” and that the warning was “madness”.

He said four of the five complaints came from people who were not even customers and that they had accused him of breaching the peace, “or something ridiculous”.

“Are they going to complain about the birds singing as well? They make more noise than I do,” he said.

Gifford, who listens to his favourite songs — including

500 Miles by The Proclaimers — on headphones, said that he sang if he knew the words or whistled if he did not.

He admitted that he was not very good at singing, but added: “Lots of my customers love it. One lady came out of her house at 4.30am to say she thought it was wonderful.”

He complained that the warning from Kirby & West Dairy was effectively a ban, because it stated that he had to be quiet until 8am — when he had almost finished his rounds.

“I’m always in a good mood in the morning,” he said. “We go out in the snow, wind and rain — what’s the point of being miserable? You’ve got to do your job.”

His bosses confirmed that he had been issued with a warning, but insisted that they had not threatened to dismiss him.

General manager Kelvin Young said Gifford had ignored requests to reduce the noise.