大象传媒

It was with great difficulty that Bill and I managed to persuade Andrew to finish his three-year hairdressing apprenticeship. Unfortunately, some of his friends teased him about the job 鈥� especially when one of them discovered that Andrew was known in the salon as Monsieur Andre! The salon manager quickly realised that Andrew had a real flair and regular customers started to ask for him to look after their hair. One such client was the film star Janet Munro, currently the wife of Ian Hendry. She made most of her films at Teddington Studios and told Andrew that, when he had finished his training, she would do her best to get him on the staff of the make-up department there so that he could go on looking after her hair. It would have been a wonderful chance for him but he was getting tired of being called a 鈥減ansy鈥� (the word 鈥済ay鈥� hadn鈥檛 been adopted then) especially by the other lads in the Army Cadets; to whom he devoted all his spare time. However, he did agree to finish the course just in case he ever changed his mind and decided to take up hairdressing again. He enjoyed going to Summer Camp with the Army and decided to join up in the Signal Regiment. After training he was sent for two year鈥檚 duty in Northern Ireland 鈥� which was a constant worry to us and, although we still saw very little of him, we were pleased when his next posting took him to West Germany. He did eight years in The Signals and became a civilian again last year, going into computer work. He is now married and has a lovely family.

With the two boys away from home, we now had a spare room. Having recently taken up photography as a hobby, we fitted the boys鈥� room up as a darkroom and did our own developing and printing. As I gradually improved I would bring my camera to work and take literally hundreds of photographs of the garages, buses, coaches, staff and anything interesting on the journey. Gradually my technique improved until I would be asked to be the official photographer at Staff Dances, the Annual Children鈥檚 Seaside Outings and Christmas Parties and sold enough of these photographs to cover my expenses and thus pay for my hobby. When I was finally asked to take wedding photographs I knew I was getting pretty good and enjoyed myself immensely. I liked photographing people while Bill switched from prints to colour slides and became very good photographing animals, birds, flowers and insects. Some of his close up colour slides are really professional. Gradually colour prints became more popular than black and white but home processing was very expensive and time consuming and I gradually gave up still photography and bought a cine camera 鈥� I鈥檓 still in the early stages of film making and most of my films are awaiting cutting and editing. It will probably be a couple of years before I get proficient enough to film a wedding. I should have liked to spend several days filming a typical day 鈥渙n the buses鈥� but events have overtaken me and there are no conductors working on the buses at Staines any more.

Belonging to a bus garage need not be all work; there is an active sports club at all garages and frequent inter-garage competitions to keep you on your toes. Up till about ten years ago, when recruiting women conductors ceased, we had a ladies darts team at Staines that was quite successful. I used to throw a pretty good dart myself and managed to keep the individual cup at home for about five years. I was also reserve for the men鈥檚 team and we had a match with the U.S. Air Base at High Wycombe every month for several years till it closed down. In recent years, with only four women still remaining at Staines Garage, it became impossible to arrange duties so that we could keep up a team and so our outside interests have declined except for Jill who has been here for twenty-five years and still runs a First Aid Class and a very successful Ladies Team in conjunction with Windsor Garage. Every staff member of London Transport and National Buses can train for First Aid with the St John鈥檚 Ambulance Service and can sit for their First Aid Certificate examinations every year. When there were a lot of women conductors in the garage we at Staines had several teams and I managed to attend a couple of competitions myself.

Although I am happy to say that I have never been present at an accident causing injury and involving my bus or coach, we always stop to give any assistance possible whenever the occasion arises. Unfortunately I am one of those people who just cannot stand the sight of a lot of blood, so I make sure I am out of the bus or coach before the driver and dash off to phone for an ambulance, coming back to direct the traffic or any other job I can find to do until the Ambulance or Police arrive and we can be on our way.

Even with the best drivers in the world (and ours are certainly trained to be just that) there comes a time when the brakes have to be applied sharply to avoid an accident on the road and, invariably, the conductor takes a tumble. I鈥檝e certainly had my share of that over the years. If I鈥檓 standing on the platform and holding the handrail then the sudden stop causes nothing more serious than a sharp jerk but an unexpected swerve or a sharp application of the brakes when I鈥檓 issuing tickets is quite another matter. At best I鈥檓 left sprawling in a passenger鈥檚 lap and at worst I have somersaulted over the back of vacant seats and landed with a thump at the other end of the bus. I鈥檝e badly wrenched my left knee, chipped a bone in my spine and received innumerable bruises just about everywhere at some time or another. Lucky for me, I鈥檝e never yet been halfway up or down stairs at the crucial time. Conductors have been thrown off and killed in that way in the past.

The worst accident I ever had, though, was when I was winding up a window because it had started to rain heavily. The driver had to brake suddenly to avoid a cyclist who came straight out of a side turning into the path of the bus and I sustained a dislocated shoulder. It took seven months to heal sufficiently for me to be able to resume work and I鈥檓 still not able to use my right arm to lift anything heavy. Of course, the bus company made up my wages while I was off work and the Union had no difficulty in getting compensation for the disability but my poor driver was very distressed, though in no way to blame for the accident.

It isn鈥檛 all fun working on the buses. Although we both belonged to London Transport there was always rivalry and a certain amount of ill feeling between the London Central Buses and the Country Buses and Green Lines. Despite the fact that all the Green Line coaches, except the 725, went through the heart of London and most of the towns on the Country Bus routes were just as traffic packed as London in rush hours, the pay and conditions on Central Buses were considerably better than those of their country cousins 鈥� a situation that came to a head in the summer of 1958 when the Union began negotiations for a rise in pay. We had not had a pay rise for some years and we all hoped we should be offered about ten shillings a week extra. Eventually the Central Buses were offered seven and six (thirty-seven and a halfpence) and the Country Buses only five shillings (twenty-five pence). This made the difference in our pay even bigger than before and the Country Buses decided to go on strike and hold out for the extra two and six (twelve and a half pence). Never was a strike more ill fated. To begin with it was mid-summer and a lot of people were already away on holiday, those who usually hopped on a bus for short rides into the nearest town merely walked instead. The weather was warm and sunny and Central Buses ran from Staines to Egham in any case and they weren鈥檛 striking 鈥� we weren鈥檛 getting any brotherly support from them! Lots of people bought motor scooters or bubble cars, which were then very popular, and never became bus passengers again. Women shopped at their local corner shops instead of going into towns and there were no annual sales or exhibitions at Olympia to draw people who would otherwise be using Green Lines. Standards of living were rising and people were beginning to consider the possibility of affording to own a car. The bus strike must certainly have helped them decide to take the plunge and become car owners, many of them never to return to Public Transport again.

We held out for eight weeks, many drivers and conductors left the job when their savings became exhausted and debts began to pile up. No work meant no pay, with the exception of those belonging to the Transport and General Workers Union who received one pound per week for each of their children. Strikers were entitled to no Social Security then and eight weeks without pay really brought us down to our knees. Finally we were called to a Union meeting at Garage level and assured that if we went back to work the following week we would receive the extra two and six. Back we all went, rejoicing in our victory 鈥� justice had been done. Next pay day we discovered, to our deep dismay and disgust, that our rise was only five shillings after all. Eight weeks on strike only to go back to the terms we had been offered in the first place. Some considered that London Transport had 鈥渄one the dirty鈥� on us and gone back on their promise while the rest believed that the TWGU had paid out all their available money and had adopted the ruse to save further payments from Union funds. Men and women who had stuck it out for eight weeks without a murmur suddenly became very bitter and resigned forthwith. Emergency rotas were hurriedly compiled to work a very much-reduced service and the skeleton staff found themselves working longer hours in an attempt to keep the scant timetables in service.

London Transport lowered their standards again in an attempt to fill staff vacancies, lowering the age of new drivers from twenty-four to twenty-one years. It was easier for new recruits to pass the medical examinations and quite a few men and women were accepted that would never have got beyond the first interview in the old days and discipline became even more lax in the garages and on the road. Passengers began to complain that conductors were rude to them when they complained about bad time keeping and some of the new drivers sailed past request stops totally disregarding intending passengers. The long serving staff resented the newcomers who were bringing the job into disrepute and the new intake did nothing to hide their contempt for the conscientious crews, calling them 鈥済overnors men鈥�, 鈥渂oot lickers鈥� and similar insulting names. Morale in the garages hit a new low that took years to recover.

In time, of course, the worst of the offenders were sacked and gradually the happier atmosphere of the garage returned but the question of discipline still causes many heated discussions, the younger ones believing it is still too strict while those of us with memories that go back thirty years or more consider discipline to be practically non-existent today. The rule book is substantially the same as it always was and any breach of the rules must be subject to disciplinary action of some kind. It is the job of the inspectors to discover when rules have been broken and to decide whether circumstances warrant an official 鈥渂ooking鈥� or a warning. Once the 鈥渂ooking鈥� has been made it is then the duty of the Garage Chief Inspector to decide whether it can be dealt with at Garage level or passed on to the District Superintendent. Should the crime be sufficiently serious it can be brought to the notice of the Board of Management and the offender can appeal against any of these actions at all levels and can be represented by a union official who sees 鈥渇air play鈥� is allowed to his member. The breach of a minor offence is usually settled in the Garage Chief Inspector鈥檚 office with the offender getting nothing more than a verbal warning and probably a short lecture, although this offence is noted down for possible further reference it is not entered on the permanent record which is kept throughout the career of every member of the staff. Only serious offences are entered on the permanent record so that a clean sheet over a period of many years can go a long way in favour of any driver or conductor unfortunate enough to be accused of a really serious crime.

I should think it must be about twenty years since my one and only entry on my permanent record was made 鈥� and it still rankles. Let me explain. From time to time a road inspector will board a bus and check the tickets of all the passengers. This is not only to make sure that everyone has paid his or her fare and is not over-riding his ticket but also to ensure that the conductor is performing his duties properly with regard to the payment of the correct fares and the issue of the correct tickets. One morning, at shopping rush time, I was only one stop away from the Staines shopping area and feeling quite pleased with myself knowing I had cleared the bus even though I had a full standing load. To my horror, the road inspector discovered an old lady was holding a penny ha鈥檖enny child鈥檚 ticket instead of a tu鈥檖enny ha鈥檖enny adult. I had been ringing off tu鈥檖enny ha鈥檖enny and penny ha鈥檖enny tickets at a great rate as the majority of my passengers had boarded only a couple of stops down the road and were mostly mothers with young children and, somehow, I had rung off a penny ha鈥檖enny instead of a tu鈥檖enny ha鈥檖enny without noticing what I had done. In vain, I protested that it could not possibly have been done intentionally. I was 鈥渂ooked鈥� and had to see the Chief Inspector.

I expected a lecture, after all I had given the wrong ticket and issuing undervalued tickets was considered very serious, but surely no inspector in his right mind would believe that I had done it deliberately? No conductor 鈥渙n the fiddle鈥� with around fifty fares to get in a space of five minutes or so would race round at full speed and be content to make a measly penny! The usual method employed by 鈥渇iddlers鈥� is to work as slowly as possible so that passengers give up their fares on the platform or at the top of the stairs 鈥� the conductor issues one ticket for about every four passengers and puts the extra money in his pocket or else issues and throws to the floor undervalued tickets for every passenger. The road inspector knew this and so did the Chief Inspector but, nevertheless, I had issued an undervalued ticket and down on my permanent record it went! If a similar incident occurred today I think the whole garage would walk out on strike: there lies the difference between then and now.

At one time anyone signing on more than two minutes late would not only be 鈥渂ooked鈥� but also sent home and lose a day鈥檚 pay. The same fate would apply to a man arriving unshaven or not wearing a tie or a uniform cap. From 1st May to 30th September was officially 鈥渟ummer time鈥� and the men were issued with white linen cap covers which had to be worn throughout that time: a man could lose a day鈥檚 pay if his cover was missing or dirty too. The punishment for 鈥渂ookings鈥� made on the vehicle was quite frequently up to three day鈥檚 suspension without pay and all of these offences would be entered in the permanent record too. A Public Complaint, if upheld, would invariably result in the sack in the 鈥済ood old days鈥� whereas today the Chief Inspector usually writes a letter of apology to the passenger concerned and delivers a lecture to the offender, only taking stronger action should he or she be a persistent offender. Is this more lenient attitude a good thing or not? I know that I鈥檝e always glanced at every ticket I鈥檝e issued to check the value since being booked all those years ago.

In the autumn of 1968 the new rotas were posted and emergency working came to an end. Then it was realised how much damage the strike had caused and how much mileage and passengers we had lost. Many journeys on the coach roads that had once been duplicated in the rush hours were now running without extra coaches and still not to maximum loads. To cover the loss in revenue up went the fares and down went the number of passengers once again 鈥� and public transport has been on this downward spiral ever since. I have had several arguments in the canteen, and even on the buses, on this issue and, although I can see that putting up the fares does lose a certain number of passengers, I do not believe that putting the fares down would bring them flocking back 鈥� a view that is widely held. I think the best way to illustrate this point is to examine the staff car park at every garage. I would say that ninety-five per cent of busmen these days own a car and use it to travel to and from work. With the exception of the very early and very late duties, there is no necessity for this 鈥� we are still issued with free passes. If people who can travel completely free won鈥檛 use the buses 鈥� who will? Of course, people not only went to work in their cars but went out for pleasure too. Special journeys laid on to take the public to London for the Sales, the exhibitions at Olympia and Earls Court, theatres and the West End all slowly disappeared as did the special service on the 701 coaches for the Royal Ascot Race Meetings in June. When I first started at Staines Garage there were coaches leaving Victoria every ten minutes for the racecourse at Ascot. The duty inspector would load up a coach to full capacity and then send it off closely followed by an empty coach to pick up passengers along the road. We used to love this work as we could proceed at any speed we liked, providing we picked up passengers till we had a full load. Most of the passengers wanted to arrive before the first race so that they could get in a full day鈥檚 enjoyment and we all did our best to get them there as soon as possible. Whole families would pack sandwiches and go off for the day, arriving in plenty of time to cheer the Queen as she rode round the course in her open carriage, then settle down to see the races and picnic on the heath. Once our journeys were finished and the racing started we would park our coaches and either go on to the race course ourselves or sit in the mobile canteen in the bus and coach park till people started queuing up to go home and we had to report for duty once more.

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