AFTER nearly 60 years delivering the daily news to the residents of a County Durham village, it wasn't the freezing mornings, heavy bags or early starts that forced Keith Urwin to retire - he became allergic to newspapers.

The 69-year-old newsagent and paper "boy" has spent the best part of six decades traipsing the streets of Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, delivering the news to hundreds of households. Now he has been forced to hang up his paperbag for good after his doctor told him he was allergic to a new type of ink being used.

Looking forward to retirement, and the lie-ins that go with it, Mr Urwin said: "As much as I've enjoyed the job over the years, I'm really looking forward to retirement -- I feel as though a cloud has been lifted.

"I can now do all the things that I've always wanted to do, like watch Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and visit the Beamish Museum.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I had this allergic reaction to some kinds of news ink, I'd probably be carrying on. It's an extremely rare allergy but I thought that was the final straw. I decided at the age of 69 that it was probably time to quit."

Mr Urwin has been behind the counter of the family newsagents on-and-off since his father George bought the business in 1942.

He and his wife Margaret moved away from the shop when they married in 1950, but his mother, Lily, who is 96, still lives above it.

He said: "My dad bought the shop in 1942 and, at the age of 11, I started there the same day helping him. We've had many paper boys over the years, but these days they don't seem as interested."