COD you believe it? Dave Appleby has netted more than half a century selling fish on Grimsby docks. The whale-sized contribution to the industry was honoured by fish industry bosses.

Dave, 69, recalled the heyday of Grimsby fish market and declared: "I don't agree with retiring." He added: "I should have retired four years ago but I enjoy the job and all the people I meet."

After leaving school in 1956, Dave went straight to work as a junior salesman. He worked for Sir Thomas Robinson for 21 years and continues working for Atlantic Fresh. He looked back on the days of the bustling market and fishing boats tethered from one side of the quay to the other and the coal-fired fishing boats before the new diesel-powered engines. "It used to take more than three hours to sell all the fish we had on the old pontoon. There were between 30,000 and 40,000 boxes and around 400 fish merchants bidding. You could not sell all the fish that was landed in those days, it was given away. "We even had a Saturday market and I always remember all the lads putting the tools down, getting on their bikes and cycling all together down to the football. "Where we are now is small in comparison and it is all over in about half an hour." He told how The Queen's visit to Grimsby Fish Docks in 1958 was one of the early highlights of his long career.