IT’S the morning rush hour, you’re stuck in traffic and running late. It’s enough to drive even the most mildmannered motorist mad.

But there’s one place where there’s no danger of road rage.

In fact, if you’re travelling through Corfe Mullen between 8am and 8.30am you’ll see drivers smiling, waving and even tooting their horns. And it’s all thanks to 82-year-old Desmond Knight.

The disabled pensioner sits in his wheelchair in the morning wrapped in his Union Flag blanket and waves at passing motorists.

“I’ve been doing it for five years now since my wife died,” says Desmond.

“It makes me feel good to make people smile. It gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

Desmond has become a local celebrity and even starred on the BBC’s South Today programme.

Every morning, apart from Wednesdays and weekends, he leaves his house at 7.55am and wheels his chair to a layby in Lockyers Road opposite the Lamb’s Green Inn.

“I’m there every morning – even in the winter.

“I just wear an extra vest if it’s really cold although I don’t go if it’s raining – I don’t like getting wet,” he adds.

“I enjoy it. I like it if the traffic is at a standstill because it means I can talk to some of the drivers too. I don’t know how many people toot and wave at me – it’s too many to count!”

Local resident Ruth Oliver says it always makes her day to see Desmond.

“When you see him smiling and waving it makes you feel so much better. He cheers everybody up,” she said.

Local motorist Alan Jones added: “If an 82- year-old man in a wheelchair still has something to smile about then it makes me realise I’ve got no cause to complain!”

Desmond tried to give up his roadside vigil for a while but there was an outcry.

“I was going to give up but people started asking where I was,” he laughs.

“So I’ve decided that I’m going to keep going for as long as I am able.”