Skoda devotee is on car number 27

Devon motorist Alger Cooper has heard all the jokes about Skodas, but they have not stopped him buying 27 over the past 36 years.

Retired Mr Cooper, 67, from Witheridge said he would not buy any other kind of car after buying his first one in 1971.

Mr Cooper, who currently has a Skoda Roomster 2, said that each time a new model comes out he just has to have it.

"You won't find a better car on the British roads," he said. "Skodas are not a joke, they are fine cars."

"My wife says they are even better than a Rolls Royce and she has been in a Rolls Royce several times."

The company is one of the four oldest car producers in the world and Mr Cooper even made time on a visit to Prague to see the site of the Skoda factory.

In 1991 it became a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, a move which Mr Cooper applauds.