0:00:20 > 0:00:25# Somewhere over the rainbow
0:00:25 > 0:00:29# Way up high
0:00:29 > 0:00:35# There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby... #
0:00:38 > 0:00:41The joy of it was all the colour,
0:00:41 > 0:00:43because all the coaches were coloured.
0:00:43 > 0:00:49Because all the companies basically had colours within their names.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51Every company had a different livery
0:00:51 > 0:00:56and you recognised which coach you were going for by the colour of the coach, basically.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03You had the wonderful green coaches of the Southdown company.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09You at the dark red of East Kent and the lighter red of Thames Valley.
0:01:09 > 0:01:10These were the 1950s.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15A unique era of travel between the heyday of the railways
0:01:15 > 0:01:18and before mass air flights took off.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21When the coach became the people's transport.
0:01:21 > 0:01:27Together, they ventured out from sleepy villages and chimney-choked towns into the big wide world.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34We had a rainbow that started at the coach station
0:01:34 > 0:01:39and the colours spread to all the ends of the Kingdom.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41You know, we were a rainbow.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58When the coach was king,
0:01:58 > 0:02:02jams were of the strawberry, rather than the traffic, variety.
0:02:05 > 0:02:12For many passengers, the coach offered the first heady taste of adventure and freedom.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16A safe, comfy capsule on wheels,
0:02:16 > 0:02:21from which they could glimpse wonders that lay beyond their own backyard.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26And, unlike the train, the touring coach could pick you up from wherever you wanted.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31You can hire a private coach to go anywhere you like, any time you like.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34And we can organise the whole thing for you.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37An offer few at the time would have refused.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Especially one particular passenger.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45My best memories of coach travel is how everybody got on together, like a big happy family.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49Every coach was the same. There might be 40 coaches in a line following you.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54If you pulled up, you could hear people in the coach behind singing and having a laugh. It was wonderful.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00THEY SING
0:03:02 > 0:03:06That's stuck with me all the time. Happy. Everybody was happy.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Nobody was that fussy. Nobody was in a hurry, you know.
0:03:10 > 0:03:16And...everybody took the simple things, like...and enjoyed them.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23The sweet sound of a good old-fashioned sing-song.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27It was the magic ingredient of every successful coach trip,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31binding its passengers together in coachly harmony.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34I think camaraderie is something...
0:03:34 > 0:03:37It's rather a well-kept secret with coach groups.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42People would get up and impersonate stars and comedians, with the flat caps and things like that.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47Some of the men would get up and stand at the front, have the place in roaring laughter.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52Everybody used to be hanging out the seats, looking down, and standing up and cheering and clapping.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54# And if you think that's what I look
0:03:54 > 0:03:57# I'll tell you why I'm here and... #
0:03:57 > 0:04:01George Formby was one of the most popular ones to send up.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04# I'm leaning on a lamp-post at the corner of the street
0:04:04 > 0:04:07# In case a certain little lady comes by... #
0:04:07 > 0:04:12One group used to tell you so many jokes, you'd have to pull up and have a rest,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14because you couldn't listen to 'em all!
0:04:17 > 0:04:20It didn't take very long for parties to gel.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26Everyone became very attached to each other.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28They surely did.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31In the days before air-conditioning,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35even stifling summer heat was all part of the on-board atmosphere.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Some men would be sweating that much, because they still wore suits.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42They didn't often take their jackets off in those days.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47When they started sweating, they got so hot, they used to take their hankie out of their pocket,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51put a knot in each corner and then put it on top of their head,
0:04:51 > 0:04:56pull it down over their head and they'd sit there and it would stop the sweat coming down their face.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59But then, after about ten minutes, the hankie would get red-hot,
0:04:59 > 0:05:04full of sweat and wet, so they'd take it off, into the...
0:05:04 > 0:05:06It was lino on the floor in those days.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10They'd wring it out and the water would go on the floor!
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Then they'd put it back on their head and they'd be like that, gasping.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17Whether it was on express journeys or touring trips,
0:05:17 > 0:05:22these sweaty encounters were unique to the communal coach experience.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27But, rather than putting them off each other, they brought them closer together.
0:05:27 > 0:05:34We were all very friendly and it was quite an emotional time when we all said goodbye.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38The coach was driving its way into the heart of the nation,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42joining up Britain's villages and towns like a giant dot-to-dot,
0:05:42 > 0:05:47along well-worn routes carved out by the stagecoaches of the previous century.
0:05:53 > 0:06:01Coach travel had its origins in the stagecoach, which travelled along set routes in stages.
0:06:01 > 0:06:07By the mid-19th century, the railways had all but driven them from Britain's roads.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12But by the turn of the 20th century entrepreneurs were experimenting again.
0:06:13 > 0:06:19The coach started off with horse-buses and horse-coaches and seaside rides
0:06:19 > 0:06:20on what were called charabancs.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24The word is French for "carriage with benches".
0:06:24 > 0:06:29And it seemed that creativity was key in this new industry.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Firstly, before they got the posh charabancs, the ones with hoods on,
0:06:41 > 0:06:48they used to convert just normal haulage lorries, folding steamers, folding steamer lorries, at weekends.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51They used to do removals in the week with a container body on the back.
0:06:54 > 0:07:00And on Friday evening, or Saturday morning, they'd take them to the depot and swap the bodies over.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I mean, my grandfather always used to tell this story.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08He lived in Woodford Green in Essex and the local pub was obviously
0:07:08 > 0:07:12a stopping-off point for charabancs returning to the East End of London.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14They would stop of an evening and...
0:07:14 > 0:07:18a bit like a Laurel and Hardy film, they would get out of one door,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21get back on drunk, and then get out the other door.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Whoever's organising claimed it was the vicar with the church outing.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28We used to borrow the church pews from the local church,
0:07:28 > 0:07:34bolt down to the floor of this... makeshift...I'd call it hut, really, with curtains.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40And people would climb up on ladders and climb in.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47This design was called the slipper
0:07:47 > 0:07:50because it was shaped like a bedroom slipper.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54But you can guarantee the journey was anything but cosy and comfortable.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58All these early charabancs were originally on solid rubber tyres,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01all the bigger ones, until the mid-1920s,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04because pneumatics didn't really come in until then.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08You'd go through the town centres, where cobbled streets...
0:08:08 > 0:08:13All the men were holding their false teeth in, otherwise if they'd smile half their teeth would fall out.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15It was that rickety. Bang, bang.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18But not all charas were so makeshift.
0:08:18 > 0:08:24Then they got the luxury one, a purpose-built one, which was what my grandparents first went on.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27That was real luxury. Proper seats and everything. Long...
0:08:27 > 0:08:31They used to call it a toast rack because all the seats were long
0:08:31 > 0:08:33and there were ten little doors on the side of the coach.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Everybody got in their own little door and sat on the seat.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41The toast rack, with the passengers all lined up inside
0:08:41 > 0:08:43like boiled egg soldiers.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47Slippers and toast racks - what would they think up next?
0:08:48 > 0:08:49Enter the horn.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53The driver has a bulb horn here...
0:08:53 > 0:08:55HORN HONKS
0:08:55 > 0:09:00..so you tell people to get out of the way, but he's got another little trick up his sleeve here.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04And that is an exhaust whistle.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09And this blows gases from the number four cylinder.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Every time it comes up on the firing stroke it'll whistle.
0:09:16 > 0:09:22And passengers had to be equally inventive when it came to keeping dry.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25When it rained, people didn't bother about pulling the hood up
0:09:25 > 0:09:28if they were going local, they'd put the umbrella up instead,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31because they'd chug along about eight mile an hour,
0:09:31 > 0:09:36so, instead of messing about, stopping the charabanc, pulling the hood up, just put your umbrella up.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39They sat there under a brolly, happy as Larry.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42ENGINE STARTS
0:09:45 > 0:09:48The best thing for driving in the rain is a potato.
0:09:54 > 0:10:00If you cut a potato in half and smear it on the windscreen, you don't get lots of little drops of water.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04EXHAUST WHISTLE PEEPS
0:10:06 > 0:10:12But this charabanc had the luxury of a windscreen wiper, although it's hand-operated,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15you have to lean over the window, and it wipes both sides,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18because obviously it gets wet behind as well.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20HORN HONKS
0:10:34 > 0:10:38In 1911, a group of passengers were due to take a train
0:10:38 > 0:10:40from Rochdale to Torquay.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Among them was a young girl whose singing talents would go on
0:10:44 > 0:10:48to play a special role during the Second World War.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Her name was Gracie Fields.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53But there was a problem.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57In June there was a train strike and they couldn't come down.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02The chap that was working for 'em, Robert Holt, who came in to the Yelloways,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04his friend owned a charabanc in Rochdale.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07He said, "Go and tell your friend we'll use a charabanc."
0:11:07 > 0:11:09He said, "Don't talk stupid.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13"We'll never get down to Torquay. It's miles. It's about 290 miles.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16"The charabanc won't get down there. If it does, it'll take a week."
0:11:16 > 0:11:20"Oh, no," he said, "We've got to get down there somehow. We'll use a charabanc.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23"We'll treat it as an adventure and see what happens."
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Anyway, they piled in, and Gracie Fields was amongst them
0:11:26 > 0:11:31because her friend was the granddaughter of Edwards and Bryning's little Florence Bryning,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34so she came with Florence and it took 'em two full days to get here.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40The 13-year-old Gracie duly won a talent competition in Paignton,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43which boosted her confidence as a performer.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48Confidence was also growing in the coach industry itself.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50And it was such a success when they got back
0:11:50 > 0:11:54that they started doing fare-paying passengers the year after.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57And that's when the first fare-paying passenger service started.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02Holt Brothers Yelloway became the pioneers of long-distance travel from the North-west to Torquay.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05So Yelloways were on the map.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07And by the end of World War One
0:12:07 > 0:12:10so were a good many more coach operators.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16The First World War made all the difference
0:12:16 > 0:12:23because not only did the internal combustion engine get more reliable, had to because of the circumstances,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27at the end of the war, there was a huge number of army lorries, army surplus, which were very cheap.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32I understand soldiers were given a lump sum. "Thank you very much, off you go."
0:12:32 > 0:12:36And a lot of them bought the lorries.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42And in those days you had a chassis and then the lorry body was just bolted onto the back.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47And the clever ones, Monday to Friday, used them to carry coal, goods or whatever
0:12:47 > 0:12:51and then put a different back end on and carried passengers at weekend.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Perhaps more important than the technology
0:12:54 > 0:12:59was the fact that the war produced soldiers, or ex-soldiers,
0:12:59 > 0:13:05who were skilled in engineering, who could maintain these new motor vehicles, knew how to drive them.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Many of these men were looking for things to do in the new post-war world.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14- NEWSREEL:- In the 1920s and '30s, motoring had really arrived,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17and it produced a social revolution,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20as people began to take to the road for pleasure outings.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25For those who couldn't afford a car of their own, there were the charabancs and the motor coaches.
0:13:25 > 0:13:31It was little wonder, then, that when the railways went on strike again, in 1919,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35coach companies jumped at the chance to put on extra services.
0:13:35 > 0:13:41People still wanted to travel, and so Royal Blue and other coach operators
0:13:41 > 0:13:44put on services during that period
0:13:44 > 0:13:46and they proved to be popular, sufficiently popular,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51that the... some of the services continued.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55Services by Southdown from Brighton, for example.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Services from the North of England, er...
0:13:59 > 0:14:01basically to London.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Those early coach operators were canny businessmen,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08keeping their fares well below the cost of a rail ticket.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13And the brand-new passengers
0:14:13 > 0:14:18who'd tried out coach travel during the rail strike ended up staying.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21And so a whole new business grew up
0:14:21 > 0:14:25really as a result of that rail strike, offering the opportunity
0:14:25 > 0:14:30to people like Royal Blue to start running long-distance services.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35Until 1930, the coach industry was running pretty much as it wanted.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Anyone could set up a business and you didn't need a licence.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43Usual problems came as a result of this. There was no regulation.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Safety became an issue. There was no drivers' hours.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Drivers were working long hours for not a lot of money. Almost 24 hours.
0:14:50 > 0:14:56The road transport scene was almost unregulated in the 1920s.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58There were no or few speed limits.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01People didn't have to take driving tests.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05And the death figures were horrendous.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Something had to be done.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10The words "Traffic Commissioner" appeared.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14A Traffic Commissioner, of which there were a number regionally, was God.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19In 1928, there were only just over two million vehicles on the road.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Now there are about 34½ million vehicles on the road.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27In 1928, there were almost 6,000 deaths on the road.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34Now, with 17 times the number of vehicles,
0:15:34 > 0:15:36the figures are down to about 2,500.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41So, it shows something had to be done. People were being killed,
0:15:41 > 0:15:48coaches and buses and lorries were fighting for trade, and really the public needed protection.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53After 1930, if you wanted to operate a coach service, you had to have a licence.
0:15:53 > 0:15:59And, to match its new regulated image, the industry needed coach stations.
0:15:59 > 0:16:06The places where people were picking up coaches, Grosvenor's Gardens and other areas in London,
0:16:06 > 0:16:11they couldn't cope with the number of coaches and the traffic was just too much.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16And the police in London were getting a bit stroppy with the coach operators,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19saying, "You're going to have to do something about this."
0:16:19 > 0:16:22There was no, in 1930, big coach stations like Victoria.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Coaches were splattered all around London,
0:16:25 > 0:16:29the Embankment was jammed with coaches going off to all parts of England.
0:16:29 > 0:16:35And so it was desperate to find somewhere to have as an off-street terminal.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42But finding available plots of land in central London was not easy.
0:16:44 > 0:16:50London Coastal Coaches saw that there was this site, pounced on it,
0:16:50 > 0:16:55and immediately made plans for what became Victoria Coach Station.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59The design of the coach station was particularly cutting edge,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01with its Art Deco frontage.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05In 1932, it welcomed its first inhabitants,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07who immediately moved in.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09The coaches.
0:17:09 > 0:17:16The first coach to actually operate in was a coach which had come up, I believe, from Maidstone.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24So we had the coaches, we had the coach station,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27all we needed now were the passengers.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35And those came in droves, with the passing of a new Government bill.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39In 1937, there was the Holiday with Pay Act.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44The Government tried to encourage employers to pay workers while on holiday.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48So, before 1937, workers could only really afford to take one day off,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51so the charabanc was the cheapest and best way to take that holiday.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57So only 1½ million people, before 1937, had holidays with pay.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01After 1937, that rose to over 11 million people.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04So, people could afford to take a few days off,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06alongside, perhaps, the annual holiday.
0:18:06 > 0:18:12On the back of this, Billy Butlin sets his camp up in Skegness in 1936,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14and does a roaring trade.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17With Britain's new holidaying population,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20the coach now had a ready market of willing passengers.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24But World War Two provided another unscheduled stop.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Gradually, the operation of coaches was restricted.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34The Green Line services in the London area were stopped. Some of them came back, but most of them were stopped.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39And, eventually, I think in 1941, erm...
0:18:39 > 0:18:45the Ministry of Transport stopped all but essential coach services.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48The war wasn't all bad news for coaches.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52The end of hostilities and the social revolution that followed
0:18:52 > 0:18:56would help create the conditions for the industry's expansion.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04By the early 1950s, with wartime restrictions lifted,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07people were bursting to go on holiday.
0:19:07 > 0:19:13As the war ends, you see a boom in coach travel in the '50s and '60s.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18Not only have you got an annual trip, perhaps with the work or community, still going on,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22but you've also got longer excursions for longer durations.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26And people in the '50s particularly begin to have more money,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29so their excursions go longer and more exotic in that sense.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31With so many people desperate to get away,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35the atmosphere of Victoria Coach Station was buzzing.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39During the summer months of the mid-'50s,
0:19:39 > 0:19:44over 20,000 coaches poured in and out of the station every week.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56The feeling was, there are all those people wanting to get away.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58It was a challenge.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Very often, when it was really crazy, with all the phones ringing,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05there was a carnival atmosphere.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08You know, there was an absolute carnival atmosphere.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18There's a wonderful picture which was a mid-1930s departure scene
0:20:18 > 0:20:23and the assembled passengers waiting to get on the coach
0:20:23 > 0:20:28that is the most wonderful thing, they are all so well dressed.
0:20:28 > 0:20:29Ladies in fox furs,
0:20:29 > 0:20:34ladies in dresses, long, long dresses to their ankles.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39Very elegant shoes and hats. Every man in the picture is wearing a hat.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43Schoolchildren in their best school uniforms.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48It's just a magic picture that captures absolutely
0:20:48 > 0:20:53the excitement that people were finding in this very, very new industry.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56A carnival at the coach station.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59So, if you were going on a coach trip, you'd be sure to pick
0:20:59 > 0:21:02your best frock for the occasion.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08The ladies, strangely enough, used to wear a headscarf with there hair in rollers.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12They had their best clothes on, so their hair would be nice when they got to Torquay.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Before they went in the guesthouse or wherever, they got off the coach
0:21:16 > 0:21:20and the first thing they did was go to the ladies' room and take their hair out of rollers.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25And then they'd get in the taxi or the bus and turn up at the hotel looking right posh, like!
0:21:25 > 0:21:27That fascinated me.
0:21:27 > 0:21:33Ah, it was...magic days. Absolutely magic days.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35For the hundreds of thousands who had ventured
0:21:35 > 0:21:39little further than their own town or village before the war,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42a journey by coach was impossibly exciting.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45And the longer the journey, the better.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50We set off from Leeds with passengers, we picked up passengers in Leeds.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54We then went through to Wakefield and picked up more.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59And then we joined... Of course there were no motorways at that point,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03so we joined what was known as the Great North Road.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Today it's the A1.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08We joined that and we had a coffee stop in Newark
0:22:08 > 0:22:13and again other passengers joined from the east side of Britain.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15And then it was on.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20We had a full three-course lunch in Buckden in Cambridgeshire,
0:22:20 > 0:22:26afternoon tea after we'd been through London and crossed the Thames,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29we had an afternoon tea in Elton and then it was on to Folkestone.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32The journey took all day, more or less. With the stops.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36We arrived in Folkestone at the Hotel Metropole,
0:22:36 > 0:22:40very nice hotel on the Leas at Folkestone,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44and we were there about 6pm for dinner and overnight.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46That was our first day.
0:22:46 > 0:22:53Dave Haddock loved coach travel so much, he made the same 17-hour journey every year for 25 years.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59I couldn't concentrate at school, I couldn't do me schoolwork proper. I just couldn't wait to get home.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02When we finished school on the last day,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06I legged it home and I run all the way home as fast as I could.
0:23:06 > 0:23:07I had me own case there.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12The first thing I wanted to do when I come in the house was pack the case for morning.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14"We're going away in the morning!"
0:23:14 > 0:23:17As the novelty of coach travel caught on,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20it provided the perfect form of transport
0:23:20 > 0:23:23for the lingering tradition of wakes weeks,
0:23:23 > 0:23:28where whole towns took their holiday all at the same time.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33One of the highlights of the year for many people was the annual holiday.
0:23:34 > 0:23:42And in industrial towns this was often coinciding with the factory shutdown.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45FACTORY HOOTER SOUNDS
0:23:47 > 0:23:51During an industrial fortnight, or a Coventry week or Birmingham week,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54the whole city would essentially close.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07You would walk down an industrial district and not hear any machinery going.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10There'd be no transport connected to those factories.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12It would be a ghost town, effectively.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16There'd been a mass evacuation of people through coach
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and through other transport to their holiday destination.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26And so everyone had to go on holiday that week
0:24:26 > 0:24:31and people described what it was like on the first Saturday of the holiday
0:24:31 > 0:24:36with neighbours standing on street corners with their children, suitcases, buckets and spades,
0:24:36 > 0:24:41waiting for the local coach to come and pick them up and take them off.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48The coach was very, very convenient.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51It would turn up at your factory, it would turn up at your Sunday school,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54it would turn up at your village hall or wherever,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57and pick you up from where your party wanted to be picked up.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00You didn't have to get to the local station.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Helpful and accommodating coaches may have been,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09but not when it came to dealing with luggage.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14They used to put the luggage on the roof in those days.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16The driver used to climb up the ladders at the back
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and fill the cases up and tie 'em on the roof and put a tarpaulin over.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22I thought, "Blimey, that's amazing."
0:25:22 > 0:25:27With the luggage secured, it was time to safely stow the human cargo.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32People felt very comfortable at the thought that they and their neighbours could be picked up,
0:25:32 > 0:25:36they would be able to pay in during the year for the trip,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39so they knew they had enough money to cover things.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Then they would all go together and stop on the way for a drink,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46have a drink on the coach, and it would be very sociable and safe
0:25:46 > 0:25:50and they'd be home safely and it would be a really good time.
0:25:50 > 0:25:56It would be part of... looking forward to it, a day out, the children could come, and so on.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00The coach journey is a social form of transport,
0:26:00 > 0:26:05as opposed to a train, which is more compartmentalised in the sense of carriages.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10It's very difficult to get a sing-song going on a train in many ways,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14but on a coach it has that very familiar but communal form of outing.
0:26:16 > 0:26:22And, whether you were travelling on a leisurely touring coach or a scheduled express service,
0:26:22 > 0:26:28you could always be sure that the leader of the gang, the hero of the communal coach revolution,
0:26:28 > 0:26:29was the driver.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32I'm 82 now.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37And I've been driving a bus 61 years.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41And driving a car a few years longer than that.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46And I've driven in the Army for a few years.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51So, altogether, really since I was 16.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56And every driver would have a trick or two up his sleeve.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59I can remember going to Bournemouth once.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05And during the day, while the people were all out on the beach or something,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07I got all the keys off the manager
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and went round the hotel and changed everybody's nightclothes.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14I took the nightclothes off of one floor and put 'em on the other floor,
0:27:14 > 0:27:19so when it was bedtime everybody was roaring up and down stairs, looking for their nightclothes!
0:27:19 > 0:27:21Things like that. Good fun, really.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29You'd get shot if you done that now, wouldn't you?
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Driving was almost incidental to what these men did.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39For they were also entertainer, guide, protector, mechanic, nursemaid and diplomat.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42But, most of all, your beloved leader.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Right, ladies and gentlemen,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47- I wish to introduce meself. They call me Leslie.- How do you do, Leslie?
0:27:47 > 0:27:51A lot calls me Cannonball. You'll hear it a lot on this trip.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56Everybody calls me Cannonball, so you can please yourself whether it's Leslie or Cannonball.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01- Why Cannonball?- Well, I've been on the firm that long, sir. 30 years.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07So...everybody will call me Cannonball, but it doesn't matter. Ignore 'em.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09They don't know me name.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13On the way down, I shall keep explaining things to you, all the way down.
0:28:13 > 0:28:19If you want to know anything at all, don't forget, just ask. That's what I'm here for.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21I'm here to give you a good holiday, help you all I can.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25I shall suggest things when we get to Newquay.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28I shall suggest things when we get to Ilfracombe.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Now then, you've no need whatsoever to go on
0:28:31 > 0:28:35any of the trips or the theatres if you don't want, but I shall suggest them.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38And when I suggest, it's good.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40It's only the best.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44When you travel with Cannonball, you're travelling Cannonball's way. LAUGHTER
0:28:44 > 0:28:48But he hadn't always been such an integral part of the group.
0:28:48 > 0:28:54It was in fact technology that had shaped the relationship between passenger and driver.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59In the old vehicles, when the engine was at the front, the driver was in a separate cab alongside the engine.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06When the horizontal engines came in underneath the vehicle,
0:29:06 > 0:29:10that enabled the area that had been taken up by the engine at the front
0:29:10 > 0:29:15to be incorporated into the main passenger compartment of the vehicle
0:29:15 > 0:29:20so the driver was then back inside with his passengers.
0:29:20 > 0:29:25With the shepherd now seated among his flock, all sorts of mischief could be had.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33And quite often on trips, especially...
0:29:35 > 0:29:38..trips like that, they would say,
0:29:38 > 0:29:43"Cyril, it's hot in here. Can you open the roof?" So, you'd have to stop and open the roof.
0:29:43 > 0:29:48You'd be standing there trying to push it back because it was always stiff, and two of these ladies here
0:29:48 > 0:29:51would quickly have your trousers down,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55which used to cause a great laugh for everybody. If it was in the morning,
0:29:55 > 0:29:57it sort of loosened up the day a bit.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01And it wasn't always the passengers providing the entertainment.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03More often than not it was the driver.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06Many years ago I was told the story in the early '60s
0:30:06 > 0:30:09of a man who was a one-man band.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12And he used to strap a drum to the back of his seat
0:30:12 > 0:30:16and he would have drumsticks on his elbow was as he was driving.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20He would have a mouth organ strapped round and he would go bang-bang and sing as well.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22A lot of them could sing as well.
0:30:22 > 0:30:28We used to join in because that made them feel as if they were part of it.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30You know. We used to go to Scotland.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34When we went to Scotland, we used to take a kilt and that sort of thing.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36Lots of people done that.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40So you took part in what was going on.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45You had to think about the fact that you was going to get a tip at the end of a job so the
0:30:45 > 0:30:51more you joined in and they enjoyed themselves, you hoped you would get
0:30:51 > 0:30:52treated better.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55- See you again.- Yes.
0:30:55 > 0:30:56Thanks. Bye-bye.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59- Bye.- Bye-bye, dear.
0:30:59 > 0:31:00Don't get lost!
0:31:00 > 0:31:06If you went away for a week, I can't remember but if you got any more
0:31:06 > 0:31:11than £5, you were really doing well because £5 was a lot of money.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17Wages then were about 30 bob, weren't they?
0:31:17 > 0:31:20Yes, it was.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25You didn't play on that that much but it was always in
0:31:25 > 0:31:31the average coach driver - in the back of your mind - what am I going to get when I get back on Saturday.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36Many drivers were incredibly inventive when it came to earning their keep.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40One of my favourite stories is regarding Wallace Arnold drivers in Ilfracombe.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44A lot of tours to Ilfracombe in the '60s and '70s, which meant that every day of
0:31:44 > 0:31:47the week there was a Wallace Arnold driver in Ilfracombe on a free day.
0:31:47 > 0:31:53And they came up with the idea of how they could earn some more money - they would get a job.
0:31:53 > 0:31:59One leader of the gang went down to the council and got himself a job as a deckchair attendant.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01He was only free for one day but there were six men
0:32:01 > 0:32:05so every day of the week there was a Wallace Arnold driver in Ilfracombe.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10So it was Geoff on Monday, George on Tuesday, Fred on Wednesday and so on.
0:32:10 > 0:32:16And once a week, the wage packet came and it was shared out amongst seven of them.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18On one occasion, there was three or four drivers in town
0:32:18 > 0:32:23and they all met up in the pub one lunchtime for a get-together.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28Not only was too much alcohol involved because it was a rest day, they were not driving,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32but also there was a freak shower and all the deckchairs were washed off the beach.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40And Jeff was sacked.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44Along with George and, John and Bill and whatever else.
0:32:44 > 0:32:50But the most popular money-spinner of all involved a piece of chalk and a tyre.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53On some trips, not all of them, if people were in the mood for
0:32:53 > 0:32:57a bit of gambling and liked something different, a bit of excitement on the way.
0:32:57 > 0:33:03You would put all the numbers on the tyre and put an arrow here where I've just put this one.
0:33:03 > 0:33:09Then everybody would pay their two pence or something in those days
0:33:09 > 0:33:12and whatever number stopped, when you stopped
0:33:12 > 0:33:16either for the loo or for a cup of tea or
0:33:16 > 0:33:21when you get your destination so you would pay out one, two, three,
0:33:23 > 0:33:30four, five, six and you would mark it however many people you had on the bus,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33maybe you had 20 or 30 or only 10.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36And when you stop, whichever number stops at this arrow
0:33:36 > 0:33:40collects the winnings and everybody used to get very excited about that.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43I can tell you. And they you could do it again on your way home
0:33:43 > 0:33:49but everybody would get upset if you rubbed up against the kerb and rubbed all the numbers off on the way.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52You had to stop and put some more on. But that is how worked.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03You didn't have time to get bored in those days, there was always some action going on in the coach.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06There was always something, entertainment was free and it was brilliant.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10As the journey got under way, the passengers settled back into
0:34:10 > 0:34:15the rhythm of the ride, enveloped in coachly warmth and comfort.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18Some might sleep, some might want to enjoy the scenery
0:34:18 > 0:34:22and some might pull out their lovingly-prepared refreshments.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25There were no drinks in those days - like you couldn't get drinks like these in those days.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28So you used to get a milk bottle.
0:34:28 > 0:34:29A sterile bottle. You know sterilised milk?
0:34:29 > 0:34:31Press the top on.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Fill it with water and press the top back on.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38And stand it up in a bag and that is what you drank on the way down in the coach. Tap water.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Used to call it corporation pop, you know!
0:34:42 > 0:34:44Everybody had none.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48"Anybody want a drink of corporation pop?" Somebody would shout.
0:34:48 > 0:34:50"Pass it down."
0:34:50 > 0:34:52They'd pass it down the coach.
0:34:52 > 0:34:53Then it'd come back.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55That was so funny that was.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59And you could guarantee that within a couple of hours of setting off...
0:35:01 > 0:35:03..they would want to stop again.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09One of the issues was that coaches didn't have toilets on board
0:35:09 > 0:35:12and, of course drinking, both on board
0:35:12 > 0:35:15and along the way, was part of the day out.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19And so this created quite a few difficulties for people.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23It was much easier for men because in those days, you did not have motorways
0:35:23 > 0:35:29so the coach could stop the minute you tapped on the door and told the driver to stop.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34Out would go the men and get behind a pile of gravel by the road, it was quite easy for them but the
0:35:34 > 0:35:38poor women couldn't do that and it wouldn't have been appropriate anyway.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46THEY LAUGH
0:35:46 > 0:35:52There was one coach driver, he used to take a tent, a sort of bathing tent.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54And a little
0:35:54 > 0:35:57portaloo thing like a potty for the ladies.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00If anybody was bursting, he would pull up on the road, especially if
0:36:00 > 0:36:03there was a traffic jam because people were desperate you know.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06So what he would do is he would run out the coach and set this little tent up.
0:36:06 > 0:36:11It was like what the GPO used to put over manhole covers.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14He used to put his tent out beside the coach and ladies would come out
0:36:14 > 0:36:18and they would get a little pot and throw it in the bushes
0:36:18 > 0:36:21and then the next one would go in and do the same.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25What became really important were halfway houses.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28I can remember my own relatives, years after they stopped going out
0:36:28 > 0:36:33by coaches from the East End to Southend, pointing out the halfway house along the way to Southend
0:36:33 > 0:36:38and it was a great relief for the women to be able to get out and have a pee at those places.
0:36:38 > 0:36:44You would have a situation where you probably had 10 or 15 coaches, you could have 400 people there.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46Two toilets - one gents, one ladies.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51Not two box of - a gents' toilet and a ladies' toilet.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54Huge queues. People could not decide whether to go for a drink and then
0:36:54 > 0:36:58queue for the toilet or queue for the toilet and then go for a drink.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02Half the party was queued at the toilets, frightened to miss the coach when it left.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04"Right, we have ten minutes and we're going. Ten minutes."
0:37:04 > 0:37:07And there could be a queue, a 20-minute long queue.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10So you'd just have to wee where you could, anywhere you could.
0:37:10 > 0:37:18On the way to Southend there was a sort of a drift, an old road, disused road that everybody used to
0:37:18 > 0:37:25back in there, not everybody but lots of people did and get their beer out at the afternoon...stop.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30All these old ladies used to go down this drift road to have a pee.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35One or two of the clever ones would get a bottle,
0:37:35 > 0:37:39stand it up right in the ground and put a rocket in it, you know
0:37:39 > 0:37:42what a rocket is, don't you?
0:37:42 > 0:37:46Put the wooden bit in and just before it was going off kick over
0:37:46 > 0:37:51so it went down this drift road and lit it all up and there was all these ladies having a pee down this road!
0:37:51 > 0:37:54I used to be great fun that did!
0:37:54 > 0:38:00They weren't right next to you, they were where those trees are. That used to be good fun.
0:38:00 > 0:38:06I only met recently quite an eminent professor of history at Oxford who told me that
0:38:06 > 0:38:12when he was a student on a coach, he had actually resorted to peeing in his briefcase in desperation.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Those were fascinating days.
0:38:14 > 0:38:19People put up with travel because they didn't expect nothing else, that was all the new, you know.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22It was just part of the journey, part of the travelling.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25If you wanted to go down on a long journey, you had to put up with
0:38:25 > 0:38:28whatever circumstances hit you like, you know.
0:38:28 > 0:38:35But it was an old friend who came to the rescue of the desperate coach passenger, the good old British pub.
0:38:35 > 0:38:43An important impact that these day trips had was that pubs started to change.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Suddenly you saw for the first time, the classic sign, "coach parties welcome".
0:38:46 > 0:38:50And it was a match made in heaven.
0:38:50 > 0:38:57If it was a biggish pub, they would open in the morning, you know, for drinks and tea and coffee.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01They were popular. You always knew where they where.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04They were regular places on regular routes
0:39:04 > 0:39:08and you would meet up with a lot of other buses and coaches there.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10Everybody would get a chat.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15The pub lady would give you a cup of tea in a piece of cake and say see you tonight.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18There is a very good account that Robert Trestle uses in his
0:39:18 > 0:39:21semi autobiographical novel, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist,
0:39:21 > 0:39:26these employers... these employees, sorry,
0:39:26 > 0:39:31take their coach into the countryside,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34to their destination via six public houses.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44To get to the destination, which was a public house.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51As coach travel swept through the country,
0:39:51 > 0:39:58there was one place which stood out among all the others and became the unlikely hub of the industry.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Stately Cheltenham.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07Every coach company in the country used to meet there.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Cheltenham was the home of Black & White Motorways, part of a team
0:40:10 > 0:40:16of six coach operators who had come together in 1934 to pool resources.
0:40:16 > 0:40:23With its convenient geographical location, it naturally formed a central axis for coach journeys.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26People used to change from a Yelloway coach, if they were going to Wales
0:40:26 > 0:40:28or they were going to Bournemouth or they were going to London.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32They would get as far as Cheltenham from Manchester and change to a different coach.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34That was OK doing that.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36But if you went into the cafe and you were carrying on down to Torquay,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40there could have been about 40 Yelloway coaches in the car-park.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43And about another 40 on hire to Yelloways.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46The times of the services were such
0:40:46 > 0:40:48that they would all arrive into Cheltenham
0:40:48 > 0:40:54at set times, ready to all depart at the same time.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59Now the principal departure from Cheltenham was the two o'clock departure.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06So when you went in the cafe, you're that desperate to get in the queue that when you came back out you...
0:41:06 > 0:41:08"Where is my coach?" You did not know where you're bastard coach was.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12So hopefully, a lot of people used to look for the driver.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18So they used to wait for the driver coming out the restaurant and follow him like the Pied Piper.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20"Whoa, here's the driver, we're laughing!"
0:41:20 > 0:41:23A lot of people if they missed the driver, they were searching for ages.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26And the driver used to have a count on the coach and there would be half a dozen people missing.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30With up to 200 coaches on the forecourt
0:41:30 > 0:41:36and up to 40 in the same livery, trying to find your own vehicle was like a game of musical coaches.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39And then at two o'clock,
0:41:39 > 0:41:43all the coaches would leave together and for
0:41:43 > 0:41:48about 15 minutes or half-an-hour, the centre of Cheltenham was absolutely log-jammed.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02It was a sight and a sound to behold.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06It was called a mass exodus and that was when every coach left the depot.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13ENGINES ROAR
0:42:15 > 0:42:17The noise was unbelievable.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20ENGINES ROAR
0:42:20 > 0:42:24You could tell what sort of vehicle it was, whether it was an AC, a Crossley, a Gardner engine
0:42:24 > 0:42:27or some like that. They all had different noises.
0:42:27 > 0:42:33You could stand on the corner or in the coach station, "Here comes in an AC, here comes a Leyland."
0:42:33 > 0:42:35And they would come round the corner and it was.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37GEARS GRIND
0:42:37 > 0:42:42Especially when you're going through shops and the town centres and you could hear the echo.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47You know the echo of the engine, the exhaust, vrrrrr, would echo off the buildings.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49That sounds nice, our coach sounds gorgeous.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53And they used to look out the window and see the reflection of the coach going past and the noise.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56"That's us going past!" It was brilliant.
0:42:56 > 0:43:01As coach technology accelerated, the passengers were determined to
0:43:01 > 0:43:05take their much-loved coach further than ever before.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Even if it meant hoisting it up by crane.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13The Continent suddenly became easy to get to.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15Coaches had to be winched on board.
0:43:15 > 0:43:16There was no roll-on roll-off ferry.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21So a coach would get to Dover and it would be chained on to this ferry
0:43:21 > 0:43:25and chained off whenever - they went to Ostend, Boulogne, Calais wherever.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29And with the coach safely delivered to foreign shores,
0:43:29 > 0:43:33the coach capsule adventure could continue with a continental twist.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36SHIP HORN BLARES
0:43:43 > 0:43:48Our first night on the Continent was Reims, which was very nice.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50And we sampled the champagne.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Of course.
0:43:52 > 0:43:59And then on to Interlaken for six nights where we stayed at the five-star Victoria Jungfrau.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04But five-star hotels, which were not used to dealing with coach tours
0:44:04 > 0:44:08had some stuffy rules that Barbara found difficult to swallow.
0:44:08 > 0:44:13My driver, Stanley and I, seated ourselves in the main dining room,
0:44:13 > 0:44:19when I was told that the managing director would like to see me at the desk.
0:44:19 > 0:44:26I went along and he said, "I am sorry but in his hotel, chauffeurs must eat in another dining room."
0:44:27 > 0:44:34And I was very put out by this. I was quite indignant and said, "Well, that's ridiculous."
0:44:34 > 0:44:38I said we eat together at all the other hotels.
0:44:38 > 0:44:44To which I was told, "Yes, but this is the five-star Victoria Jungfrau."
0:44:44 > 0:44:52And I said, "Well, if my driver has to eat elsewhere, I must eat with him because we are a team."
0:44:54 > 0:45:01And so Stanley and I were moved, actually into a very nice ballroom with a painted ceiling
0:45:01 > 0:45:05and there was a little area that was roped off.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09And we sat there with the four-piece band.
0:45:09 > 0:45:17And the band played on, until four seasons later, the Interlaken Hotel came to its senses.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20And at that point, the head waiter came to me and said, "Oh, the managing director
0:45:20 > 0:45:25"says that you and your driver may eat with the people."
0:45:25 > 0:45:31So we were moved from behind our little roped area just a few yards...
0:45:31 > 0:45:35into the main...into this lovely ballroom with our passengers.
0:45:35 > 0:45:41And at the end of the season, when the passengers were moved back to this lovely main dining room
0:45:41 > 0:45:44at the front of the hotel, we moved with them.
0:45:44 > 0:45:49So we broke their laws, we broke their rules!
0:45:52 > 0:45:58With coach parties breaking down the old order and cutting new paths through Europe,
0:45:58 > 0:46:03the coach responded to the latest demands wherever they came from.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06Austria and Switzerland, always very, very popular.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Wonderful scenery, people have heard of the places they're going to.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12And every so often, you would get something like...
0:46:12 > 0:46:17The Sound Of Music would come along, and you would have this wonderful vista of Salzburg.
0:46:17 > 0:46:22And all of a sudden, holidays to Austria would go up.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27# The hills are alive
0:46:27 > 0:46:31# With the sound of music... #
0:46:31 > 0:46:36And in this era of romantic travel, passengers not only fell in love
0:46:36 > 0:46:40with their coach, but with each other.
0:46:40 > 0:46:46At Grindelwald, where people went on the chairlift - which was a double chairlift -
0:46:46 > 0:46:53we had a young couple who'd been pretty lovey-dovey all the tour, they'd come together.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57And they went on the chairlift, and when they came down and got
0:46:57 > 0:47:00back into the coach, they announced their engagement.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02We were all delighted.
0:47:02 > 0:47:10And then when I told the following group, I said, "It's a lovely ride, it's peaceful, you go over streams,
0:47:10 > 0:47:17"pine trees, you see cattle with cow bells round their necks
0:47:17 > 0:47:19"and it's a very lovely ride,"
0:47:19 > 0:47:24and I said, "In fact, on the last tour, we had a couple who
0:47:24 > 0:47:28"announced their engagement after going up on it."
0:47:28 > 0:47:31And one gentleman called from the back - he was with his wife -
0:47:31 > 0:47:36but he called out, "Can you get a divorce on it?"
0:47:36 > 0:47:40To which she gave him a nudge in the ribs!
0:47:40 > 0:47:45Like marriage, the coach offered comfort and security.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49Its reassuring and constant presence enabled it to lead its passengers
0:47:49 > 0:47:54safely into the more exotic parts of Europe...
0:47:54 > 0:47:56and beyond.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Everybody wanted to go to Russia. It was one of our most popular holidays.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03It was 15 days, and loved it.
0:48:03 > 0:48:04And it went for years and years.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07It was the place to go. The Grand Russian Spectacular, we called it.
0:48:15 > 0:48:20In St Petersburg, they parked the coach near the hotel
0:48:20 > 0:48:23and this shady looking man came up and said,
0:48:23 > 0:48:27"Would you like us to guard the coach?" And they said, "What do you mean, guard it?"
0:48:27 > 0:48:29"Well, it's a bit rough round here."
0:48:29 > 0:48:31And they said, "Well, how much is it?"
0:48:31 > 0:48:36And I think he charged the equivalent of 50p, and he sat all night with
0:48:36 > 0:48:41his Kalashnikov rifle in front of the coach outside the hotel.
0:48:43 > 0:48:50The feeling that you could get in a coach very locally and go to somewhere pretty exotic
0:48:50 > 0:48:53with all your luggage and your neighbours on board and then come back again
0:48:53 > 0:48:58with them and be dropped back in the same place, such as Bolton, was very attractive to people.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03While coach tours were busy invading other countries, back in Britain,
0:49:03 > 0:49:05we were advancing on the home front too.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14BULLDOZERS ROAR
0:49:14 > 0:49:18The sound of bulldozers gave more than a hint that
0:49:18 > 0:49:23the way we travelled and the speed we did it at were about to change.
0:49:27 > 0:49:35Work began on Britain's first motorway, the Preston Bypass, in 1957.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42As motorway mania caught hold, it wasn't long before the whole country
0:49:42 > 0:49:48was carved up by this new high-speed road system.
0:49:48 > 0:49:53But while motorways allowed coach travel to evolve, they also upset
0:49:53 > 0:49:58traditional coaching routes, and casualties fell by the wayside.
0:49:58 > 0:50:04It stood as an uneasy warning sign that there was trouble on the road ahead.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06I mean, I can remember, you know, travelling down the A1
0:50:06 > 0:50:11from the late '50s going on family holidays and every year we went, another town had been bypassed.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14So you knocked another half an hour off the journey.
0:50:14 > 0:50:20And ultimately, coaches that took ten hours to get to London were doing it in five, and then four.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23Now that more people could afford to buy their first car,
0:50:23 > 0:50:30the coach was forced to share its passengers and the motorway with shinier, faster vehicles.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Before the motorways opened, hardly any cars could pass you really,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36unless you'd got a long, straight road.
0:50:36 > 0:50:38Some of the lanes you used to go down and through the town centre
0:50:38 > 0:50:41were so narrow, but once you got on the motorway, it was just like a vast...
0:50:41 > 0:50:44It was like another world.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48It was so different and it was like, woof, you could see these things whizzing past you.
0:50:51 > 0:50:58But our coaches were still designed for Britain's pre-motorway A-roads and had a lot of catching up to do
0:50:58 > 0:51:04if they were to cope with the new high-speed longer distance journeys.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09Midland Red, who were Birmingham-based and very innovative, built their own vehicles, in fact.
0:51:09 > 0:51:17In 1959, I think it was, they built a turbocharged coach that could do 90mph, allegedly,
0:51:17 > 0:51:21down the bit of motorway between Birmingham and London.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27The driver who took me on this proving run was Mr Donald Sinclair,
0:51:27 > 0:51:31the General Manager of the Midland Red bus company, which is to operate this new service.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36- Gosh, we clocked 82 miles an hour going round those banks!- Yes.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38- And in a bus!- In a bus, yes.
0:51:38 > 0:51:39But are you going to travel at 80 miles an hour on the motorway?
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Oh, no, we don't expect to have to do that speed.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45We shall probably restrict these to a maximum of about 70 miles an hour.
0:51:45 > 0:51:53Even with restrictions, coach speed had doubled and was becoming faster and more frantic.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00So coaches can now operate at 50, 60, 70mph for long distances.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04Journeys had sped up and I think for the first time, this makes the coach
0:52:04 > 0:52:06a serious competitor with the railways
0:52:06 > 0:52:09over long distances of 100 or 200 miles,
0:52:09 > 0:52:12where there is a parallel railway line.
0:52:13 > 0:52:18And not only that, coaches were about to get an additional boost.
0:52:18 > 0:52:23In 1963, Minister of Transport Ernest Marples commissioned a report
0:52:23 > 0:52:30into the profitability of British railways, written by Dr Richard Beeching.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Dr Beeching, do you personally believe that the Government has
0:52:33 > 0:52:36no real alternative but to accept your plan?
0:52:36 > 0:52:42I think that these proposals are in the long-term interests of railwaymen.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44I think they'll go along with us.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48Beeching's remit was to try to make the railways pay, or at least
0:52:48 > 0:52:52not lose as much money as they had been doing in the 1950s.
0:52:52 > 0:52:58And he took a long hard look at some of the traffic which the railways had traditionally carried,
0:52:58 > 0:53:03like large numbers of people to and from seaside resorts for just a few weeks in the year.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06And, basically, said the railways should not be in this business.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Today's report will shape the future of the system.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12More than 2,000 stations will be closed.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14The most dramatic effects are in Scotland.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17Remote areas of the Highlands will lose their services.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20Wales takes a body blow as well.
0:53:20 > 0:53:26Holiday resorts in the West Country share the fate of many market towns - no station, no passenger trains.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30In the northeast, little more than the main north-south links will remain...
0:53:30 > 0:53:34It was a brutal blow to the railways, but it meant that
0:53:34 > 0:53:38many more express coaches were needed for direct routes.
0:53:38 > 0:53:44If someone wanted to go from London to South Wales in the '50s, they would go to Cheltenham
0:53:44 > 0:53:47and connect with a service from Cheltenham to South Wales.
0:53:47 > 0:53:53As soon as we got a motorway, we had through services from Victoria to
0:53:53 > 0:53:57Newport and Cardiff, so we suddenly cut out Cheltenham.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05And the sad thing is that Cheltenham, which had been
0:54:05 > 0:54:10a major hub in the coaching map, was no longer needed.
0:54:10 > 0:54:16And the coach station at Cheltenham closed and it just became a point on a timetable.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20As Britain's motorway network continued to grow rapidly
0:54:20 > 0:54:25throughout the 1960s, so did our holidaying habits.
0:54:37 > 0:54:45As we travelled further afield in our own private cars, traditional seaside destinations started to fall
0:54:45 > 0:54:50out of fashion and struggled when the holiday-makers went elsewhere.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54Blackpool was the northerners' Margate, Margate was the southerners' Blackpool, I suppose you would say.
0:54:54 > 0:55:00Huge, huge numbers. Hundreds and hundreds of coaches would go on a Sunday, in particular, for the day.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03Gone. That business is completely gone.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09I was in Margate a couple of months ago,
0:55:09 > 0:55:14talking with a councillor about coach parking, didn't see a coach.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16The infrastructure's gone, the entertainment's gone.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19Dreamland, I think it was at Margate, derelict.
0:55:21 > 0:55:27And it's sad, but it's not kept up with what the public wants to do.
0:55:27 > 0:55:33I travelled with Yelloways until I got my first motor car, which was in the late 1970s.
0:55:33 > 0:55:38And then we used the car then to come down to Torquay, which was, er, not the same. It wasn't the same.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42When you're crammed in a car, you've not got the freedom of a coach.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45But nevertheless, everybody started getting cars then, you see.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49It's all about... I suppose the magic word - public service.
0:55:49 > 0:55:54Technically, a coach was known as a public service vehicle, and it had to have a public service
0:55:54 > 0:56:00vehicle licence to operate it, and the driver had to have a public service vehicle licence to drive it.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03And they're the key words - public service.
0:56:03 > 0:56:09And the successful operators provided the public with a service and flourished, and the others didn't.
0:56:09 > 0:56:16The rise of car ownership and cheap air travel meant the coach industry saw a gradual falling off of trade.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21And as the political and economic landscape also began to change,
0:56:21 > 0:56:27the express coach network was seen as too vulnerable to be left to its own devices.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29In 1969,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32the coach industry was nationalised.
0:56:35 > 0:56:44Three years later, it was brought under one corporate livery, which became National Express.
0:56:44 > 0:56:51With the emergence of National Express in the early 1970s, operating over the motorway network,
0:56:51 > 0:56:58which by the end of the 1970s was essentially complete - we'd reached the end of an era.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07And under National Express, the colourful coaches,
0:57:07 > 0:57:14which we knew and loved so well were painted a uniform ghostly white.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17Whilst it caused a lot of heartache among traditionalists, I have to say,
0:57:17 > 0:57:22if you want a network, then you have to have a standard livery.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26# Somewhere over the rainbow
0:57:27 > 0:57:30# Way up high... #
0:57:30 > 0:57:31So you used to have white.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34Royal Blues, you had white, black and white. You had white Midland Reds.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38You had white Grey Cars, which was a nonsense, but it was done with
0:57:38 > 0:57:43the best intentions - to get an image of a nationwide express coach network.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46This idea that,
0:57:46 > 0:57:48that the colour white is...
0:57:48 > 0:57:54divides up into all the colours of the rainbow, and now, come nationalisation, all the
0:57:54 > 0:58:01colours of the rainbow were being pulled back into the colour white. It was almost...
0:58:01 > 0:58:09It almost epitomised what had happened to the industry there because at that point,
0:58:09 > 0:58:17a lot of that wonderful familiarity, that wonderful family feeling was automatically lost.
0:58:17 > 0:58:25I've been out of the industry now for five years and I have to say, looking back, I've seen out the best of it.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28With the loss of the colour,
0:58:28 > 0:58:34we had lost the personality of the business.
0:58:34 > 0:58:39The really, really lovely specialness,
0:58:39 > 0:58:40the colour had gone out of it.
0:58:40 > 0:58:45The colour...I don't think will come back again, not as it was.
0:58:45 > 0:58:49# If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow
0:58:49 > 0:58:55# Why, oh, why can't I? #
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