Online campaign raises £40,000 for factory worker who walks 21 MILES a day on commute

A determined Detroit factory worker has not had a day off in 10 years - despite having to walk 21 miles each day to work.

James Robertson spends all his free time walking to and from work as he can’t afford to replace his car and buses only cover a fraction of his 23-mile journey.

Robertson, 56, has to set off six hours early for his $10.55-an-hour factory job in Rochester Hills, Detroit, and doesn’t get in after his shift until 4am.

But his mammoth commute could be at an end soon, however, as a Michigan college student has started a crowd funding campaign which raised $60,000 in one day to buy him a car.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Robertson begins his trek at 8am to catch buses that take him to a Troy, Michigan mall.

From there, he walks seven miles to Schain Mold & Engineering, where he begins his 2-10pm shift. And according to his boss, Robertson has a perfect attendance record.

'I set our attendance standard by this man,' Todd Wilson, plant manager at Schain Mold & Engineering, told the paper. 'I say, if this man can get here, walking all those miles through snow and rain, well I'll tell you, I have people in Pontiac 10 minutes away and they say they can't get here — bull!'

Robertson has been making the same four-hour commute to the plant since 2005, when his car — a 1988 Honda Accord — quit on him. Robertson didn't replace it, he says, because 'he hasn't had a chance to save for it.'

'I keep a rhythm in my head,' Robertson said of his near-marathon daily slog. (He also stays caffeinated 'by downing 2-liter bottles of Mountain Dew and cans of Coke.')

His commute home takes even longer. Leaving work after 10 p.m., Robertson walks the 7 miles back to the mall, where he catches the last bus of the day, just before 1 a.m., taking it as far as it goes: the State Fairgrounds on Woodward, just south of 8 Mile. From there, he walks roughly 5 miles back to home through what he describes as a dangerous section of town.

By the time he gets home, at 4 a.m., it's almost time to do it again.

Robertson rarely accepts rides, though a banker who befriended Robertson while stopped in traffic has given him dozens this winter, the Free Press said.

The story inspired Evan Leedy, a 19-year-old computer science major at Wayne State University, to set up the campaign on the crowdfunding website GoFundMe with a goal of raising $5,000. Within an hour, more than $2,000 was raised, Leedy told the paper. Through Monday afternoon, the campaign had raised $62,444 via nearly 2,000 donations.

According to Leedy, all the money raised will be set aside for Robertson's car, insurance, gas and maintenance.

Meanwhile, a local car dealership has offered to give Robertson a free car.

'He gets to choose,' Angela Osborne, customer service specialist at Rodgers Chevrolet in Woodhaven, Mich., said. 'We were just impressed with his determination.'