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| Fareham
was one of the towns we visited regularly
from Winchester with the 69 route operated
by crews from both depots and the 'out-station',
a group of crews and vehicles stationed away
from any depot, at Bishop's Waltham. |
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| One
of the Fareham conductors frequently complained
about the language in the canteen. Despite
the fact that he had worked there for a few
years, he had never got used to it. But no
matter how much he complained, the other men
and, of course, the women continued to swear.
Most of us just joined in but he eventually
went to the depot superintendent. The response,
"It's a xxxxing bus depot canteen, what
the xxxx do you expect me to do about it?"
was hardly what he wanted to hear. |
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| A
Fareham conductor with a very different background
knew exactly what to do when he had a late
night bus load of drunken sailors. He called
the provost (navy police). They took the drunks
and the bus away with them. The bus was returned
next day and parked in the middle of the garage
with a sign saying 'Do Not Touch'. It gleamed,
it sparkled, you could use it as a shaving
mirror. The guys had been up all night cleaning
and polishing every last inch inside and out! |
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| The
nearest I ever came to something like this
was on a journey to Andover on an old single
deck bus. I dropped a coin on the floor, bent
down to retrieve it and when I stood up I
caught my money bag under a seat and tipped
out all the contents. I picked up as much
as I could but other hands were grabbing what
they could too. The route passed through the
army camps at Barton Stacey where most of
the passengers got off. When I cashed up at
the end of the day I was several pounds short. |
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| A
few days later I was called into the office
expecting to be in trouble for this but to
my surprise I was handed an envelope full
of money. One of the passengers had apparently
been a higher rank of some sort who had taken
the names of the soldiers who had helped themselves.
He later made them empty out their pockets
and had relieved them of all their small change.
Instead of losing the money from my wages
I actually made a profit on the deal. |
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