A VETERAN milkman has vowed to continue his round despite having his van stolen during a delivery.

Bill Farndale, 78, has been delivering milk in Northallerton, Brompton and Thornton-le-Moor, North Yorkshire, for 15 years.

He was putting out pints in Brompton in the early hours of Thursday morning when someone jumped into his Ford transit van and drove off.

The vehicle was found hours later burnt out in a field near Ellerbeck, three miles from Brompton.

Mr Farndale said the incident would not put him off his deliveries.

"I am going to keep going for now," he said. "I have got a few years left yet."

He had parked the van to make a delivery outside the village shop in Northallerton Road at 2.45am when it was taken.

"I parked up and went down an alleyway to make the delivery. There wasn't a soul about," said Mr Farndale.

"It was only going to take me two or three minutes.

"I heard a van start up, but I thought it was somebody delivering to the shop.

"I came back and the van had disappeared."

PC Christopher Rigby, who dealt with the incident, said: "When the van was found, it had been rolled over a few times and was burnt out.

"Mr Farndale has been doing the round for 15 years, so it was quite a shock to him."

Mr Farndale runs the milk delivery business with his son, who has a separate van.

He is hoping to hire a vehicle to continue his round until his van is replaced.

He thanked the police for the way they dealt with the theft.

"Nothing like this has ever happened to me before, but the police were very good," he said.

"They were with me five minutes after I rang and really pulled the stops out."

A 17-year-old youth has been arrested in connection with the theft and bailed to return to Northallerton police station on January 8.