A Sheppey man has been crowned as the best horse carriage driver in the country.

Sonny Hillier, of Bell Farm Lane, Minster, has turned doing what he loves into a living and his skills have even earned him a role as an extra on EastEnders.

The 27-year-old galloped to glory at the 2012 National Carriage Driving Championships, in the open single horse category, on a Gelderlander named Ranno, loaned to him by a lady from Surrey.

He was first introduced to the sport at the age of eight when a neighbour gave him a pony that was too small to ride, so he learned how to harness it instead. He now breaks horses from all over the country and teaches others how to do it themselves.

He has driven in the Lord Mayor of London’s show and works for a carriage company in the capital, a job that saw him appear twice in EastEnders, driving the coffins of Pat Butcher and Archie Mitchell.

The national champion said: “I never envisaged it being a living, it happened by accident. Someone saw me and said ‘would you break my horse for me?’ Then more and more people wanted me to do it.

“I have been very fortunate in the past couple of years. People have seen me compete and asked me to use their horses for them and that has come through years of struggling.”

Training starts at the end of January and when Sonny is not working with horses, he is getting them ready for competitions, which begin in April. Current four-in-hand world champion Boyd Exell is coaching him and he hopes to one day compete in Europe.

He has been able to earn enough to buy three horses, which can cost anything from £2,000 to upwards of £10,000, but they will not be ready to ride for at least three years.

Despite the hours each day getting the animals ready, Sonny said: “I don’t know what else I would do. It’s just what I have always done.”