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More Premier Travel Memories A selection of short
stories from Alan M Watkins (Added to April
26, 2009 and again 20 & 27 June 2009) AEC Reliance/Burlingham UVE 333 Bought on HP (as usual) she was nearly repossessed when Premier
lurched into their worst ever financial crisis early 60s and they were behind
with the payments then. Only a personal injection of cash from Mrs
Lainson saved the day and people coming up with personal guarantees (i.e,
their homes) to the long suffering Lloyds Bank who showed an understanding
that I feel confident in stating would not be available today. There's a wonderful letter at the height of this crisis (when
bankruptcy was literally hours away, fuel company at the helm, as with It begins: "Dear Arthur: As you know I have considerable
affection for your company and we go back many years together. It pains
me to say that the situation is now critical: I am prepared to reveal to you
that only my personal intervention with the Regional Director has enabled the
company's recent cheques to be honoured and it is now my Disgressing slightly, can anyone imagine a Bank Manager in 2007
writing such a letter? No, thought not. UVE 333 was contemporary for her time and in the Summer of 1960 was
joined by XMT 54-56. After they arrived and PT weathered the financial
storm that engulfed them it paved the way for the modern fleet of the future.
UVE 333 had a short life as mentioned. I think she was parked at
Harston when she spontaneously caught fire after coming in from a job and was
completely destroyed. These days it would probably be arson by the
local lads but as far as I recall it was then suspected as an electrical
fault. As I recall the fire went unnoticed for a while and by the time
the brave part timers from Sawston clanged their way to the scene (they would
have been the nearest and none of this two-tone stuff then, old chap) she was
well gone. But the seed was sown and those and subsequent vehicles lifted PT from
Primitive Travel, as it was affectionately nicknamed by some locally, to
Premier Travel in every sense. SUPPORT INDEPENDENT And more on
the financial crisis It was the Travel Agency which saved the company from bankruptcy
originally. I've got all the documents (plus an injection of personal money
from Mother). At one stage they were so broke (and, yes, I have all the letters from
a wonderfully understanding manager of Lloyds Bank, Cambridge, who deserves
credit as well and it wouldn't happen now) that conductors were ordered to
pay in the takings direct to the bank wherever their journey ended where
there was a branch of Lloyds! That's how close it was. I once made five trips to the Saffron Walden branch on the same duty!
Not joking - FACT. Also there were many weeks when the Staff had to wait until a Tuesday
to be paid. And wait they did! Then the Foreign Summer Holiday
boom kicked in and the dreadful months of January and February began to
become quite wonderful in terms of company takings as the deposits were made.
There was for a while also Premier Airlines with one chartered
aircraft and with one elderly and somewhat disgruntled "Air
Hostess" who lived in Steeple Bumpstead. I believe it went as far
as I drove/conducted her a few times, poor old thing was a bit knackered
by then and the clutch had a habit of juddering rather spectacularly. She was
a wonderful workhorse for the company covering everything from local stage to
private hire to Birmingham-Clacton and seaside expresses in the summer (she
was often the Saturday bus to Skegness and back) and when I drove her she had
done nearly 800,000 miles according to company records. So they had
their money's worth! Spent most of her life at Chrishall with occasional loans to
Godmanchester and "died" where she had arrived in the summer of
1948. Stan Pennell was a regular driver in her early days and said she was
the first new Premier bus he drove. "I couldn't believe me
bleedin' luck," he said, in Stan's inimitable but long silenced fashion.
AEC Regal 4
LUC 204 on the 53 The history of the route is that Burgoyne started it in the 30s and it
originally ran through to In the 1952 timetable there is a note saying that Premier hoped to
"restore" the route to Chelmsford but it never happened because
both Eastern National and British Railways (Haverhill and Halstead had trains
then) launched vociferous objections to the Halstead-Chelmsford section and
so did Corona. So the extension idea was dropped. In the 50s this Sunday only service was a money maker. It
required double deckers and sometimes duplicates because RAF Ridgewell was on
the route - after the War Ridgewell was a bomb storage depot with a lot of
civilian clerks and a lot of Sunday visitors to same. It shut in 1957
and has long since been "returned to agriculture" as they say. In the last year of Ridgewell's life the 53 in the 1957 timetable
still had shorts to Ridgewell to cater for this traffic. LUC 204 arrived in March 1964 and was No 163. Someone at Generally thought a good bus, nice to drive (I thought so, anyway).
Only complaint from Premier was that they found them heavy on tyres. (Or
perhaps the Vehicle Inspectors were just getting tougher?). The rural bus The rural atmosphere was certainly alive and well
when I first joined Premier Travel - we had regulars and a lot of elderly
folk as well. We had an (allegedly) titled Lady from the Big House who
insisted on being escorted personally to her seat (I had been warned about
this). It was an accepted part of your duty to help them on and off (no lo-
floor buses then) and, for the most frail or aged, to lug their shopping bags
up to the front door (often a considerable distance) while they rummaged for
their key. Or sometimes you carried the kids on or off (wouldn't be
allowed today, probably). One sweltering day, somewhere near Arkesden I think, the lady said:
"Would you and your driver like a drink of orange?" So we had
a drink of orange...while the bus waited and everyone just carried on
chatting. And of course there were the cinema buses with the young lads in their
"Teddy boy" outfits (remember winklepickers, anyone?). Teddy
Boys with a deep rural accent always seemed a bit of a misnomer to me.
And I think I can still smell the Woolworths perfume from the girls,
all "made up to the nines" as they used to say. Saturday night out of Bishops Stortford, Premier would regularly shift
150 people if the film was particularly popular. Stort Taxis were on
permanent hire for a relief to Manuden with their You got to know your passengers and they got to know you. Once
when I had a very bad cold I was also offered various "remedies"
for curing it - one I remember involved sucking a nutmeg, something I did not
try. In those days you were a lifeline, often for people born well into the
then previous century who looked forward to their weekly trip to wherever it
was. It was like a social club sometimes. Sometimes you even collected prescriptions for the housebound - this
was in the days when doctors actually came out to people who were ill and
left the prescription with them. " Ex Ribble
"White Ladies" There were fine to drive but a pain in the &*%$
to conduct on two accounts. Manual platform doors are fine on limited
stop services, as inhabited by White Ladies I believe (wherever to Kendal),
less so with frail old dears on local stage who just didn't have the muscle
to pull them (this was before electrics, for younger members) so you were
ever Also they came with high backed coach seats up and downstairs. Nothing
wrong in that except that they occasionally caught your cash bag which rode
up and tipped at least some of the contents on to the floor. White Ladies
don't you just love 'em? Fine to drive, less so to conduct. PS: Loved the in cab quilt engine cover
- thanks Ribble! Also on DCK 208 the left hand wiper never worked in my time. Not
that it mattered. If I know where my offside is I *think* I can accurately
guess about the nearside. A little story: there was a "stray" White Lady DCK 219 which
didn't arrive until 1966. It went to Roly retired, aged nearly 70, in the 1970s and through my friendship
with Bill Ruffle I got to hear of this. So I managed to track down two
pictures of "his" bus, one in service with Ribble and one with PT
(I think Alan Cross had the Ribble shot, Robert Mack had the second). I had
them framed and they were presented to him, along with all the other gifts,
at his farewell do. I was abroad and could not attend but I had a
lovely letter from him a couple of weeks later. Lovely chap but, boy, did he "love" that bus! Those with personal associations for me are AGV 194 (which has been on
here) cos I passed my single decker test and did my first ever drive alone
job with her and GUF 131 on which I passed my decker test, the latter I still
regard as a triumph of brute force over matter. Buses were
"heavy" to drive in those days but even then there was heavy and I'd still take one on again mind you and attempt yet another triumph
of man over machine! I bet the Southdown chaps were glad to see the
back of them! These days there would be warnings on the
internet....................... Ex Southdown GUFs Southdown GUF's also sent you deaf after about an hour but like on the
plane you just keep swallowing. Being old I may have told this story before but during the GUF's time
at Premier Travel there were two buses out of
Bishops Stortford at 10.45 p.m on a Saturday night. Service 10 to Chrishall, Service 26 to Barley. We followed the
same road through Hazel End, Manuden but the 26 turned off left at the finger
post marked Little London. We carried on. The 10 was back at the garage by 11.45 or thereabouts - the 26
finished at Barley at 11.35 and then came back dead across the
"Chrishall Downs", downs because they are exceedingly hilly. One frosty winter night we parked our steed and me and Ernie Law
(driver) were chatting outside the deserted Crew Room when across the
night came the unmistakeable sound of a Southdown Guy changing down into
First and roaring (no, that's an understatement) it's way up a hill. Ernie was about late forties then. I was about 19 or 20. "Put the kettle on lad," he said. It was a frosty night and sound carries on a clear night like that but
the drop down into First was well over a mile away. I went and put the kettle on. Drummer
Street bus station - and Southend trips This may be of interest to those who remember the
old bus station in Come on chaps! If you are on Service 27 with an ex Southdown Guy
Arab (GUF series) hopefully heading to: BRENT PELHAM What would you rather be hemmed in by? A couple of Neoplans,
Scania's, Volvo's? Or the latest shiny Lodekka of United Counties en route for The building in the middle was affectionately known as The Pyramid. In
it was housed Premier Travel's Drummer Street "booking office"
normally staffed by Inspector C******* before he ran off with the money and
on busy summer Saturday weekends often staffed by Arthur Lainson, helping
selling tickets for Excursions, Express Services. So the man that
started it sold you the ticket. Seems okay by me. Mystery tours at 2 pm and 6 pm in the height of Summer started from
here. That was then, of course. A gentle stroll for an Later in the year, much much later, it was the starting point at 2.30
pm in September/ October Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays for Southend
(illuminations). All along the Sea Front (both ways) in 2nd and then parked at Kursaal
(Coach/Car Park) while they wandered round and did their thing. Backed in
among many, many coaches. Met a young bloke driving for Eastern Belle (Bow, London, son of the
Guvnor), Orange Luxury, Fallowfield and Britten, Timpsons, Wiffens,
Finchingfield, all attracted like moths to the flame of Southend
Illuminations. Actually most of us took off to Sid's Cafe on the seafront where we
bemoaned our fate (and charges) and talked shop over "Sid's Steak and
Kidney Pudding Gravy and Mash" which was around One Shilling.
Large cup of tea 4d. Jam Sponge & Custard 6d, ditto Spotted Dick & Custard (no
comments please, it was a different age). Apart from the fact there is a half decent Waitrose I can't think of
any reason at all for going to Southend today. Type training
- or not! Little story: we had a
new part time driver at Premier Travel Chrishall once and as sometimes was the way he was thrown into the thick of things one
Saturday lunchtime. He had never driven a Huntingdon
recalled Ah Huntingdon of blessed bus memory. The UCOC
crews at the hallowed Mill Common. The K's, the Premier Travel
STL, I once drove an ex West Yorkshire K5G for a week between
Black Horse Drove and Cambridge Pye Works. There should have been an
attendant/conductor on the back. There wasn't. (Not sure there ever
was). Whoever chose rang the bell or I
looked in the mirror.
A couple of other little memories of Huntingdon. |