A SOLDIER who was once turned down for the Army, because he did not have a driving licence, has taken command of the unit he first tried to join 25 years ago.

Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Morgan, of Wirral, is celebrating becoming the new Commanding Officer of 156 (North West) Transport Regiment RLC.

But his lengthy career in the Army nearly finished before it even began.

As a teenager, he once inquired about joining 156 Transport Regiment’s squadron, in Birkenhead.

He said: “Having got the taste for the Army, through being a cadet, I wanted to join the TA.

“I was politely turned down because I did not have a driving licence.

“That has all changed now – we take people without driving licences and teach them to drive – but it is funny that here I am now, 25 years later, in command of the same unit which rejected me.”

Undeterred, the former St Anselm’s College pupil went to Ellesmere Port’s TA centre, then the base of an infantry unit, which did not insist on driving licences, and was content to accept the young cadet into its ranks.

After later studying at university in Winchester, he went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and became an officer in the British Army.

He has since served all over the world, including in Germany, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

In Hong Kong, he served for five years with the Gurkha Transport Regiment.

He said: “The role of the regiment was to provide logistic support to the Gurkha infantry brigade and we were also on standby to support internal security operations and emergency disaster relief.

“Part of my role involved travelling to various regions in Nepal to pay the annual pensions, in cash, of the retired Gurkhas.

“We would trek for days between villages.