0:00:19 > 0:00:22Britain has had a long love affair with the coach.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26In its heyday in the '50s the coach took us on holiday,
0:00:26 > 0:00:32the coach helped us meet people, the coach gave us unforgettable experiences.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35The coach was our friend.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39But round the corner our colourful companion was in for a big shock.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45Everything changed in the faster paced 1960s.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48The formation of the National Bus Company, later to become
0:00:48 > 0:00:52National Express, put an end to the golden age of coaching
0:00:52 > 0:00:55and there was no time for nostalgia - the future
0:00:55 > 0:00:59of coach travel beckoned - it was to be efficient and functional.
0:01:02 > 0:01:09When you got all the little companies being gobbled up by the National Bus Company, all that really eclectic mix
0:01:09 > 0:01:17of funny people and funny coaches and funny interiors, all became level and predictable.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, a new generation discovered
0:01:21 > 0:01:28alternative uses for the coach, as the gaps left behind by the National Bus Company were exploited.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34You got a load of football fans drinking a load of beer going to football match.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38To describe these coaches, clearly they were road-worthy,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41except for the time when they broke down, of course.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45And I think that is probably the best you can say about them.
0:01:45 > 0:01:51Like minded folk with a common purpose used old coaches as their chariots into battle.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55200 miners would go from Durham up to Scotland.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57That's like four coach loads.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01They would drive us, drop us off, we would have a push and shove with the police,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04and they'd pick us up and take us back to where we were.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09At the other end of the market, luxury coaches emerged
0:02:09 > 0:02:13with pile carpets, toilets and beds.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15But not everyone was impressed.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19For some unknown reason, the American bands didn't mind at all
0:02:19 > 0:02:22being put together in one long tube after a gig,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25stinking and smelling, within six inches of the next band.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Others were so taken by the coaches they decided to make them their dream home.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38I'm a new age traveller, I have been living in a coach since about 1990.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Absolutely love it. Beats living in a house.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Bedroom, en-suite shower, what more do you want?
0:02:47 > 0:02:50All was not lost. In spite of being a little scruffy,
0:02:50 > 0:02:55these alternative coaches could still inspire a sense of community and adventure.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58The freedom to get away from our crowded island.
0:02:58 > 0:03:05Dusty roads, the noises, the smells, huge landscapes...
0:03:05 > 0:03:10I can't imagine anything more different to a National Express trip.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20MUSIC: "National Express" by The Divine Comedy
0:03:27 > 0:03:32# Take the National Express When your life's in a mess
0:03:32 > 0:03:37# It'll make you smile... #
0:03:37 > 0:03:42- For nearly 40 years the National Express network has been offering
0:03:42 > 0:03:48cheap and convenient travel to the long distance traveller in Britain.
0:03:48 > 0:03:55When it arrived in the '70s, it shook up the transport industry, ushering in a new era of travel.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57'It was the start of a new era.'
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Going along at 70mph southbound,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03every two minutes, there would be a National Express going the other way.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07The old web of coach routes, run by scores of operators around
0:04:07 > 0:04:10the country had been brought together under one name -
0:04:10 > 0:04:13the National Bus Company - and one colour - white.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20It was perfectly placed to take advantage of the new motorway network.
0:04:20 > 0:04:26And the inspiration for all this modernisation was drawn from the United States.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37Since the 1940s, America had been running a national network
0:04:37 > 0:04:42of centrally co-ordinated coaches under one banner - Greyhound.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50The Greyhound routes offered the ordinary traveller an inexpensive means
0:04:50 > 0:04:57of crossing America's huge landscape in stylish comfortable coaches.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01On the way, it captured the hearts of its passengers.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06The Greyhounds were are a luxurious form of travel
0:05:06 > 0:05:08without all that stupid executive nonsense.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12They were like going in a Cadillac.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17# I'm going where the sun is shining through the pouring rain... #
0:05:17 > 0:05:21You had an upper deck and you would pay a slight premium to go on
0:05:21 > 0:05:27the upper deck and watch the Rockies as you strode down these fantastic interstates.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32It was great and it was convenient and you could go from, literally, coast to coast.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36The USA was peppered with Greyhound coach stations
0:05:36 > 0:05:41and by hopping from one line to another, the whole country was accessible from anywhere.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45East, west, north south - it would be up to you which way you went.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49You could go off and start a new life and nobody would know -
0:05:49 > 0:05:50you'd be free.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06Somewhere this idea of the romance of the open road was lost in translation.
0:06:08 > 0:06:14Even back at its start, Britain's National Bus Company was developing a bit of an image problem.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18National's white buses couldn't match either the allure
0:06:18 > 0:06:21of the British golden age that had gone before it,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24or the gleaming silver of American's greyhound.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29The romance of coach travel just wasn't there any more and you would go on your coach down to London
0:06:29 > 0:06:34on the M1 and it was just a sterile, bland experience.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40Where National sought to standardise the routes, timetable and livery,
0:06:40 > 0:06:45it also unwittingly standardised the experience of travel.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47There was no longer anything to fall in love with.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53You get on National Express, sit on the M25, go nowhere,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55have a rotten packet of crisps, lousy service
0:06:55 > 0:06:58and get off thinking, "I wish I'd never got on."
0:06:58 > 0:07:03While the National Bus Company remained faithful to its grand plan
0:07:03 > 0:07:05of direct intercity travel,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09niches in the market opened up for those who didn't want
0:07:09 > 0:07:11to conform to the standard routes.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13There were still plenty of passengers who believed
0:07:13 > 0:07:17that the original dream of coach travel was worth pursuing.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24The coach was opening up a whole new world of possibilities.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27MUSIC: "Magical Mystery Tour" by The Beatles
0:07:30 > 0:07:32A few years earlier,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36the Beatles had released the film The Magical Mystery Tour.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39It played with a version of the golden-age where curious characters
0:07:39 > 0:07:44embarked on a traditional British coaching adventure.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48If you just looked down the bus at the characters that were there,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51that was very much observing people.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54This was the hippy era and the idea of taking a coach trip
0:07:54 > 0:07:57to discover oneself was hitting the mainstream.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03The way that it used the coach as a sense of escape,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05as a sense of taking you
0:08:05 > 0:08:10from your own mundane world to a better world showed very much
0:08:10 > 0:08:14the romantic view of how the coach was seen at the time.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19It was somewhere that would take you to strange, exotic and exciting places.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30Taking advantage of a glut of cheap coaches being sold off by the industry, unofficial operators
0:08:30 > 0:08:35sprung up throughout the '70s offering their own take on the Magical Mystery Tour -
0:08:35 > 0:08:40overland coach travel to exotic middle and far eastern destinations.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47Everyone was just having fun. The '70s were a brilliant time to be alive.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50The '60s were all a bit sort of fuzzy!
0:08:50 > 0:08:53And lots of people can't remember them.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56But the '70s was a time when you could do stuff,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59you could just up sticks and go and travel.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14The idea of the open road was particularly attractive
0:09:14 > 0:09:19to the hippy generation and the use of coaches was a very important part
0:09:19 > 0:09:21of enabling that hippy way of life.
0:09:21 > 0:09:28Coaches are ideal vehicles for people that wanted the privacy to do drugs,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31they can be easily converted to sleep in them,
0:09:31 > 0:09:36to paint the outside to make them look psychedelic and so on.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40And they could go anywhere. You could stop anywhere, you could sleep anywhere.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45We took a few friends and we got as far as Istanbul and discovered
0:09:45 > 0:09:51that there were a lot of people who wished to travel in anything other than the local transport.
0:09:51 > 0:09:58Especially in Turkey, where the drivers had a reputation for being a bit crazy.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00I just started doing my own little posters,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04sticking them in the window, sit around for a couple of days.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Things like 25 to the next capital city
0:10:06 > 0:10:08and it just went on from there.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20Often in the back of my mind I used to think about the Greyhound bus
0:10:20 > 0:10:23across America, because they share these vast landscapes.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27And in fact I called my bus the Silver Express
0:10:27 > 0:10:30and I wanted to call it der Verchromte Windhund,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35which is the Chromium Greyhound.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38But it was just too much of a mouthful.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48There were people of all nationalities wanted to travel out east.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52The French were usually looking for something to smoke.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56The British never had enough money to get back home again.
0:10:56 > 0:11:03The Americans could always phone home if things were bad, although you'd probably have to sit around
0:11:03 > 0:11:05for a whole day trying to make a telephone connection.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Germans were always very well organised, as you'd expect them to be.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14And the Swedes and the Danes were just very pleasant.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24I suppose there were four or five major organised companies.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29And two or three dozen independent operators.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34Including a girl called Christine - a one-eyed, one-armed French girl.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Who drove her own bus.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39There were several people like myself, who'd just got a bus
0:11:39 > 0:11:42and were interested in going backwards and forwards.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Or just taking the bus full of passengers out there,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48selling the bus, flying back, buying another bus.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Travelling off the beaten tracks had its draw backs.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58The tracks were often badly maintained.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04And overland buses were commonly seen broken down on the side of the road or worse.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08No such thing as health and safety in those days.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12John remembers stopping to help out.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18I stopped to ask if I could assist and he said, "Yeah, would you like these passengers?"
0:12:18 > 0:12:21And so I kind of bought the passengers off him.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23For 10%!
0:12:23 > 0:12:27And he's given me a wad of cash and all the people just...
0:12:29 > 0:12:33They were happy to be on my bus, because it was so much more reliable.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39It was all pretty free really.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43We found somewhere that was nice to stop
0:12:43 > 0:12:45and just lay around or picnic. We'd do that.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49If we found a hotel that we hadn't used before that was nice,
0:12:49 > 0:12:54or in a nice location, we'd stay there for an extra day or so.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57We used to take about three weeks from England to India.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05The important thing is, in my mind anyway, that I got everybody there. And to me,
0:13:05 > 0:13:10they'd paid money and I was contracted to take them where they wanted to go.
0:13:23 > 0:13:24For those not so adventurous,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28there was always the National's intercity routes back in the UK.
0:13:28 > 0:13:34Expansion of universities meant more and more students needed to study away from home.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38They were becoming a substantial market for coach travel in their own right.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41While students could be catered for by standard routes,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45other passengers had requirements that were less predictable.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49And the national network was predictably not equipped to cater for them.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Newbridge, Basingstoke, Guildford,
0:13:52 > 0:13:54Horsham, Worthing.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57MUSIC: "Magic Bus" by The Who
0:14:01 > 0:14:05You had some national routes gradually emerging,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08but beneath that, a very anarchic situation
0:14:08 > 0:14:13with lots of small companies still operating as private hire coaches
0:14:13 > 0:14:17and serving a very diverse, quite interesting market.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25So one had small, private, family-owned coach companies,
0:14:25 > 0:14:32some very long-established, who hire vehicles out to whoever wants to go on a trip somewhere.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37Weddings, anniversaries, works outings, you name it.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44There was a network of coach services serving the Asian community, which followed
0:14:44 > 0:14:50routes such as from Leicester to Southall, which were not mainstream for the white population.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57One of the most common uses for a privately hired coach
0:14:57 > 0:14:59is the school outing.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02An experience shared across the generations.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04OK, take your seats.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07One at a time. Slowly.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09No pushing, no pushing.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17That was just chaos in a metal tube.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22The teachers couldn't keep control and neither could the coach driver.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28I got coach sick. If I was sitting across the back, I wasn't sick.
0:15:28 > 0:15:29So I always got the back seat.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33It was prime position to muck around and be naughty
0:15:33 > 0:15:36cos it also meant the teacher, who always sat at the front, had to get up and walk
0:15:36 > 0:15:42all the way to the back and go, "Look, I've told you time and time again, if you don't behave yourself,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45"you're going to come up the front and sit with me."
0:15:45 > 0:15:48"But if we do, Miss, Wakeman will be sick!"
0:15:48 > 0:15:51"Well, you'll all come up except for Wakeman."
0:15:51 > 0:15:53"But he's the one who is mucking around the most, Miss!"
0:16:03 > 0:16:07The 1970s saw the coach confirm its countercultural status,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10when the music business embraced it.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12# ..With blotched and lagered skin
0:16:12 > 0:16:15# Blockheads with food particles in their teeth
0:16:15 > 0:16:18# What a horrible state they're in... #
0:16:18 > 0:16:23Independent label Stiff Records sent almost their entire roster
0:16:23 > 0:16:28of artists on tour in a single coach in order to save money.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36It was 1977 when Stiff artists Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Larry Wallis,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Wreckless Eric and Ian Dury were all sent out on the road
0:16:40 > 0:16:45in a green and white 57-seater Plaxton Panorama Elite
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and what better way to kick-start their careers?
0:16:48 > 0:16:51# How would you like one puffing and blowing in your ear hole?
0:16:51 > 0:16:54# Or pissing in your swimming pool... #
0:16:54 > 0:17:02Bands performed back to back each night showcasing their best few songs in a revue-style line-up.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05The bands hadn't really had hit records at this point.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10So together they were more of a phenomena than singly.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Taking Stiff's artists on a coach around the country
0:17:13 > 0:17:16was clearly the cheapest option for the label.
0:17:16 > 0:17:17It made economic sense.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22It was consciously or sub-consciously putting
0:17:22 > 0:17:25themselves on the level of the people who were going to see them.
0:17:25 > 0:17:32It was seen as very authentic, it was very real, it was a kind of back-to-basics manoeuvre.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36The coach also had some practical advantages.
0:17:36 > 0:17:42Everyone arrives at the same time. Everyone is on time if the coach is on time.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Everyone's together. There is that kind of togetherness that makes a tour work.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49And a good tour is where people integrate.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53If the bands are turning up in their own little bubble,
0:17:53 > 0:17:58they don't - either musically or socially - they don't get on
0:17:58 > 0:18:01with everybody else and it doesn't work
0:18:01 > 0:18:03as well as it should.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07# Nice girl's not one with a defect
0:18:07 > 0:18:10# Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct
0:18:10 > 0:18:15# Red dogs under illegal legs
0:18:17 > 0:18:23# She looks so good that he gets down and begs
0:18:23 > 0:18:27# She is watching the detectives... #
0:18:27 > 0:18:32There were a lot of little camps who set up and lots of people who felt they were slightly different
0:18:32 > 0:18:38to other people. so you'd have a group in the back playing and elbowing out another group slightly.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43Then you'd have the people in the front talking about drug experiences, or booze.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Elvis wrote at least four or five songs a day.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55So he was totally intense about writing and being professional.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00Ian Dury was kind of pie-in-the-sky musical, "We are musicians, we are
0:19:00 > 0:19:04"more musical than the other guys, we think music all the time."
0:19:04 > 0:19:06A lot of this kind of competitive stuff.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09I mean, all human kind were there.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13A keyboard player of one of the bands, a very nice girl,
0:19:13 > 0:19:20but it turned out that she actually had three or four boyfriends in the ensemble, but she wasn't...
0:19:20 > 0:19:24nobody had twigged this until one day on the coach when some expression
0:19:24 > 0:19:29that somebody said about something and somebody says, "What?"
0:19:29 > 0:19:33And she was completely blushing and it turned out that she was having it
0:19:33 > 0:19:39away with three guys at the same time but arranging it so that they didn't know about it, obviously.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41That's what happens on coaches!
0:19:45 > 0:19:52The historical context at the time was kicking against the excesses of metal and of prog rock.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57And bringing their artists on a coach together, it attracted an awful lot of publicity.
0:19:57 > 0:20:04It was a great tour. It broke Ian Dury and Elvis Costello, I think, and the coach was memorable.
0:20:06 > 0:20:12Stiff fully exploited the coach as a cheap way of getting its artists around but they weren't the first.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24Ever since the great swing tours of Duke Ellington,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27the coach had been used to bus around large numbers of musicians.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Even the mighty Cliff Richard employed the coach as a tour bus,
0:20:37 > 0:20:43but the coach seemed to be especially suited to the needs of the Motown Revue Tour of the 1960s
0:20:43 > 0:20:45as they travelled the down to the Deep South.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55Though the experience changed somewhat when they repeated the performance in the UK.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02The great Motown revues traversed America in a coach.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06You hear these tales of Stevie Wonder and the Four Tops being on a coach together,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11kind of finger-clicking, humming songs and generally growing up
0:21:11 > 0:21:14through that experience together.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19Now, it's a little bit less glamorous if you're going from Preston to Cleethorpes.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25From humble beginnings, the tour bus has evolved over the years.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Used initially as just a form of transport for bands,
0:21:28 > 0:21:33it started to be seen as a money saving alternative to expensive hotels.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Bands often travel by coach.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42Not always, because at the very top level they will fly the few hundred yards from hotel to venue.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46However, for most bands, coach is still the way.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52There's this industry built around the luxury coach.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57These coaches have developed beyond imagination.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01They are full of kitchens, there are places to record,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05there are luxury seating arrangements.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09And people sleep on them and drive from city to city.
0:22:14 > 0:22:20But in the '70s when Yes were on tour, some band members weren't so keen on the new sleeper coaches.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24I can remember being called in by the management,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27the whole band and they said, right we're doing a tour, now...
0:22:27 > 0:22:32We think it would be a great idea if it was a bus tour.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37And we just sat there, because they use all these arguments,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41"It will be great, because at the end of the gig you just get on the bus and pleasantly go to sleep
0:22:41 > 0:22:45"and you wake up in the town where you're playing the next day.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47"How wonderful is that?"
0:22:47 > 0:22:51And then you point out to them, OK, yes, we'll all tour,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55with the exception of Jon - 6'3". The bunks are not 6'3".
0:22:55 > 0:22:57It's like being on a submarine.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00You're still in a glorified bunk bed.
0:23:00 > 0:23:06It's incredibly claustrophobic, it's incredibly sweaty.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11It's difficult, it's not the luxury that it appears.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15There is one loo and the sort of things that bands do, you do not
0:23:15 > 0:23:19need one loo - you need your own separate coach with eight loos on it following you.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23There is of course the legendary "no number two" rule.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26And it's usually
0:23:26 > 0:23:28faithfully adhered to.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Partially because it's pretty obvious who the culprit might be,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35should nature take its inevitable course.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40You cannot have your own space and if there's one thing I think musicians need, it's your own space.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45Because you spend your life with them - on stage, eating, talking, rehearsing.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Why the hell do you want to go to bed with them?
0:23:48 > 0:23:50So we went, "No!"
0:23:50 > 0:23:53And the management were quite taken aback because they can
0:23:53 > 0:23:55make a lot more money if they stick you on a bus.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Because it's a damn sight cheaper than putting you in hotels.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Where a tall band like Yes struggled with
0:24:01 > 0:24:04the small living space that a coach offered,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08other artists travelling solo had a lot more room to stretch out.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13# A long and restless journey
0:24:13 > 0:24:20# Living on a strong and hungry dream
0:24:20 > 0:24:25# Somewhere down the road
0:24:25 > 0:24:30# A warm light, shining gold
0:24:30 > 0:24:37# Some day soon it's bound to shine on me... #
0:24:38 > 0:24:43Regarded as one of the most successful female country artists ever,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Tammy Wynette sold over 30 million records during her career.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49This made her one of the highest earners in the business
0:24:49 > 0:24:53and so, unsurprisingly, she demanded a coach to match.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00# Somewhere in the future ain't so crazy... #
0:25:03 > 0:25:07But however luxurious, one thing Tammy Wynette's tour bus missed out on
0:25:07 > 0:25:11was the communal joys of travelling with large numbers of people,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14crammed together in common purpose.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18Nowhere was this more true than on the football fan coaches.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21As the football league grew in the early '70s,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24so did the number of fans willing to travel to away matches.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29And for those who couldn't afford the train, the coach was the only way.
0:25:29 > 0:25:30THEY CHANT
0:25:30 > 0:25:33'A lot of football travel was by coach,'
0:25:33 > 0:25:37up and down the motorways, and they caused a bit of trouble for some
0:25:37 > 0:25:41of the motorway service stations when drinking was allowed on the coaches.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49- THEY CHANT:- ..The best team of all
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Everybody knows us, we're called Millwall!
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Here we come, here we come, here we come...
0:25:56 > 0:26:00'There is nothing to beat travelling with a lot of the fans
0:26:00 > 0:26:04'of the same club on a coach going to a football match.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07'I loved doing that, that was always great fun.'
0:26:07 > 0:26:13I think if there's a group of you, who, in a strange way, have a connection,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16then there's no doubt about it, it works.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23In the best part of my formative years I would travel
0:26:23 > 0:26:27every other Saturday to a football match on a coach.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29I would see Sheffield Wednesday,
0:26:29 > 0:26:34and we would basically drink our way from Sheffield to our destination.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37We had a fantastic time.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39These days, of course, if you travel on a coach
0:26:39 > 0:26:46to football matches you are legally barred from taking alcohol, and the police enforce this quite strictly.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51Back then, beer was not only allowed, it was compulsory.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55It meant a kind of stop-start journey because,
0:26:55 > 0:27:00as we know, men's bladders do not operate in sync.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Poor, innocent families travelling in their saloon cars
0:27:03 > 0:27:04to their suburban destinations
0:27:04 > 0:27:08would invariably pass rows of men
0:27:08 > 0:27:11relieving themselves on the side of the road.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16All we are going for is a good game of football,
0:27:16 > 0:27:18a good punch-up and a good piss-up.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23The potent mix of alcohol and a passionate devotion to football
0:27:23 > 0:27:26saw a rise in violence in and around football matches.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30The visiting coaches seemed to be a magnet for aggression
0:27:30 > 0:27:31from some home fans.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35Depending on how many coaches came down, you could have anything
0:27:35 > 0:27:36up to 20 or 30 coaches
0:27:36 > 0:27:38of away supporters.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41You've got to park them somewhere, then you've got to take
0:27:41 > 0:27:45all the occupants, 50 to 100 at a time, to the ground for their own protection.
0:27:45 > 0:27:51Then some police have to guard all these coaches in case the home supporters wreck the things.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54They've got to be escorted out of the city on the way out.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58In extreme situations, and you've got to stress that this didn't happen all the time,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02they'd throw bricks at the coaches, they would throw stones,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04they would throw pint pots, if you were passing a pub.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07The more experienced travellers amongst us
0:28:07 > 0:28:12were very much able to recognise the three sounds of brick on coach.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17Sound number one was the brick hitting the metal work beneath the windows.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20That was a good sound - you were kind of reassured.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22The second sound was brick hitting the window
0:28:22 > 0:28:23and the window not shattering.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27That was sort of reassuring and sort of little bit scary.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33And then there was the third sound of a brick shattering window.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35That was quite scary.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39It was an occupational hazard.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44The worst thing would be travelling back with a broken window on the coach.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46That was cold, that was horrible.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49And the fact that the retreat had been caused
0:28:49 > 0:28:54by the locals meant there was a certain dampening of morale.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02During the '70s, football had become one of the largest areas of the private hire market.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07National recognised this and started to poach some of this business.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16National's army of buses were gaining territory all the time,
0:29:16 > 0:29:20and the shiny new white coach company seemed unstoppable.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23But the name National didn't quite capture the essence
0:29:23 > 0:29:27of speedy intercity travel, so it was rebranded
0:29:27 > 0:29:32as National Express, and jobs there were much sought after.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34I was a bus driver in Nottingham
0:29:34 > 0:29:39on local services, and a vacancy came up on the notice board,
0:29:39 > 0:29:44they wanted a driver to operate their contract with National Express.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48This was a very special opportunity for me.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50It was a prestige job.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55It was suggested that if I was snapped in half like a stick of rock,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58it would say National Express all the way through me.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05The services were faster,
0:30:05 > 0:30:11drivers were driving more to the speed limits than they had done in the past.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13This particular vehicle was re-engined
0:30:13 > 0:30:15with a more powerful engine
0:30:15 > 0:30:20to cope with the additional speeds and tight timings needed.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26The ease with which the National Express network grew
0:30:26 > 0:30:29showed how badly the country needed the network.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32It even started to take away passengers from the railways.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37Train fares were skyrocketing.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41The car was unreliable, there wasn't mass car ownership.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45It was seen as not necessarily something to take long journeys in.
0:30:45 > 0:30:51So the coach, which was affordable, mildly pleasant and very reliable,
0:30:51 > 0:30:56was seen as the way for ordinary people to get from city to city.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02By the end of the '70s National Express dominated the coach market.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05But had it got too big for its own good?
0:31:05 > 0:31:09There wasn't a lot of space for a smaller company to come in
0:31:09 > 0:31:13because the nationalised bus companies had really got it sewn up.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16They knew what the customer wanted and they provided it.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21That spelled trouble.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Monopolies were not popular with the new Conservative Government.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Their mission was to create more competitive markets,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31and National Express was about to be put in the firing line.
0:31:31 > 0:31:37The Tories would start a long process of de-regulating Britain's nationalised industries.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42First for the treatment was the bus and coach network in the 1980 Transport Act.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44OK, well done.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48- REPORTER:- 'Transport Minister Norman Fowler opened the way to what he sees
0:31:48 > 0:31:50'as a better deal for the travelling public.
0:31:50 > 0:31:56'He says the new Transport Act is the first major reform of bus licensing for half a century.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59'10 major private operators have banded together
0:31:59 > 0:32:04'to form British Coachways, offering a nationwide network of cheap services.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07'With the Government's blessing, independent bus companies
0:32:07 > 0:32:10'are set to challenge the near monopoly of National Express.
0:32:10 > 0:32:16'And there will be few complaints from passengers, with an immediate cut-price war on many routes.'
0:32:16 > 0:32:22The fares were dropped, and there was an instance, between Exeter and London,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26the fares overnight went down from £8.50 to £3.50.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29There were pluses and minuses to this.
0:32:29 > 0:32:35Yes, it opened up transport to people who before would probably have hitch-hiked.
0:32:37 > 0:32:43But I think we lost the very respectable, well-dressed clientele.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49In spite of the fanfare that British Coachways received,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53they lasted a year before National Express saw them off.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58But other private companies with cut prices were catching on.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01One of the most successful of these was Stagecoach,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05which was started by Brian Souter and his sister, Ann Gloag.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09On their early routes he would drive while she would make the sandwiches.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12Today it's the second largest transport company in the country.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16MUSIC: "If The Kids Are United" by Sham 69
0:33:22 > 0:33:27While the deregulation of the coach networks was seen as a success, the Government's approach
0:33:27 > 0:33:31to the coal industry was not looked upon so favourably.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37The closing of pits threatened the livelihoods of many in the mining communities.
0:33:37 > 0:33:43The reactions of the miners is well documented, but less well known is the role of the humble coach.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48# If the kids are united... #
0:33:48 > 0:33:52I worked at Westoe Colliery in South Shields on the Durham coalfield.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57I was a flying picket. If you don't know what a flying picket is,
0:33:57 > 0:34:03it's someone who's fighting for their job who goes to try and spread a strike
0:34:03 > 0:34:06around places which should be joining the strike but aren't,
0:34:06 > 0:34:10and tries to peacefully persuade those people the error of their ways.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13# If the kids are united
0:34:13 > 0:34:17# They will never be divided... #
0:34:17 > 0:34:22People don't realise but it was a massive exercise moving all these miners around the country.
0:34:22 > 0:34:30We turned up at the Union Hall in the morning and then some knackered, banged-up old banger of a coach
0:34:30 > 0:34:33would come spluttering up to the door to take us.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37They weren't luxury, luxury didn't come into it.
0:34:37 > 0:34:38And the smell!
0:34:38 > 0:34:42If you can imagine 50 blokes on a bus,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45they've all been in the pub because they want to get to sleep on the bus.
0:34:45 > 0:34:46So we had a bucket
0:34:46 > 0:34:49in the middle of the bus.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52But some idiot would kick it over
0:34:52 > 0:34:55and the smell... And people's feet, they were lifting their feet up...
0:34:55 > 0:34:59But there was still a great sense of humour about the whole thing.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03# ..If the kids are united... #
0:35:05 > 0:35:09As the conflict escalated, the Government took a hard line
0:35:09 > 0:35:14to clamp down on the pickets who were now turning up in their hundreds.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22Even the police started using coaches.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25They were coordinated by an emergency centre
0:35:25 > 0:35:28set up on the 13th floor of Scotland Yard,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32and could be deployed around the country at a moment's notice.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Leicestershire are certainly in the same position.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37Derbyshire have got the same result.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41And it would appear from what I see that most of you are going to be in the same position on Monday morning.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50Just about every force in the country took part somewhere along the line.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54One of the pits would be hit en masse by flying pickets.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56Pack a bag, you're going to Nottingham.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59Pack a bag, you're going to Kent. Pack a bag, you're going to North Wales.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08We would get bussed up and have to go, hot-foot it across the county
0:36:08 > 0:36:12to wherever that particular trouble-spot was.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16There was lots of competition with the police in trying to outwit them.
0:36:16 > 0:36:17Especially going into Nottingham.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20They didn't want us to go into Nottingham and we wanted to go.
0:36:20 > 0:36:26A new concept was devised called intercept duty, devised purely and simply to disrupt their activities
0:36:26 > 0:36:29before they got to whichever pit they were going to hit.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33- REPORTER:- 'There will be police checkpoints at motorway exits,
0:36:33 > 0:36:38'searches for offensive weapons, and flying pickets will be turned back.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43'Coach drivers bringing in any pickets are being warned they are liable to arrest and prosecution.'
0:36:43 > 0:36:48We were starting to see all these motorway bridges with police vehicles covering them.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53Every single one, police vehicles, there were police cars going up the side roads
0:36:53 > 0:36:58with their lights flashing. Thinking, "Oh, my God, what are we getting ourselves into?"
0:36:58 > 0:37:02They were easy to spot, to be fair, because they'd all be wearing donkey jackets.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Lots of flat caps with "Coal Not Dole" stickers all over the place.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10None of them could give us an address in Nottingham where they supposedly lived.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12The cops said, "Where do you think you lot are going?"
0:37:12 > 0:37:15We said, "We're going to a wedding, officer."
0:37:15 > 0:37:17"Oh, yeah? It's a Tuesday."
0:37:17 > 0:37:20"Yeah, well, he's got strange tastes, my cousin."
0:37:20 > 0:37:23"Yeah, well, I think you're going illegal picketing."
0:37:23 > 0:37:28Driver, on his own admission he's not holding us, so let's go.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30Back on the bus, boys, come on.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32And they were ordered, with police escort,
0:37:32 > 0:37:40to drive back the way we bloody well came and never be seen in Nottingham again for the duration of the strike.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44And we headed off up the motorway, back to where we came from.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Except we didn't, we turned off at Barnsley and went back to strike headquarters and said,
0:37:48 > 0:37:50"Right, we couldn't get in that way, how can we get in?"
0:37:50 > 0:37:53They started splitting up and going in different directions, coming cross-country.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57So we would have to cover every single road coming into and out of Nottinghamshire.
0:37:59 > 0:38:05The whole basis of the police operation was to facilitate those that wanted to work, to work.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09So, if that actually meant escorting them into the pit...
0:38:09 > 0:38:12Sometimes in some pits it was just one or two.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15They literally walked in with a police escort.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17Very brave of them.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Divisions among miners meant that the protests became more intense
0:38:27 > 0:38:31and the police responded in larger numbers,
0:38:31 > 0:38:35but there were still those who wanted to go back to work.
0:38:35 > 0:38:43Anybody that assisted the working miners, without doubt the local coach companies were attacked.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48Graffiti on the walls, some of the vehicles were damaged.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52As the violence mounted, normal buses and coaches
0:38:52 > 0:38:55were no longer deemed safe to carry workers across the picket line.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59Coaches started to be specially adapted to withstand the attacks.
0:38:59 > 0:39:05This thing turns up, I've never seen anything like it apart from in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10Great big coach with steel mesh all the way up the sides,
0:39:10 > 0:39:16bullhorn things on the front, mirrored windows so you couldn't see anybody inside at all.
0:39:16 > 0:39:22At the same time as the coaches became safer, more and more miners went back to work.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25There would be one coach, and then a couple of days later
0:39:25 > 0:39:29there'd be two coaches, but you could never see who was on the coach.
0:39:29 > 0:39:35They would just put figures out and say 100 men have gone back today, trying to panic everybody.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41By March 1985 the strike was over.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44But even though miners were returning to work by the coach load,
0:39:44 > 0:39:49the pit closures left many communities struggling with unemployment and debt.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53The coaches' role, however, was not forgotten.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57After the strike, the coach companies who hadn't supported us,
0:39:57 > 0:40:02who had refused to come and pick us up, who had taken police or had taken scabs into the pit...
0:40:04 > 0:40:07..we boycotted them. You might think, what's a few miners?
0:40:07 > 0:40:10But miners - they go to galas,
0:40:10 > 0:40:15they go to clubs, they go on trips away to Blackpool and so on.
0:40:15 > 0:40:21But those companies, miners and their supporters would never use again.
0:40:21 > 0:40:27And if they are still in existence they probably still won't now, if they are anything like me.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29I do bear a grudge.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34Back on the motorways of commercial coach travel,
0:40:34 > 0:40:38National Express was under growing pressure from competitors.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Some of the new private operators were offering cheaper fares,
0:40:42 > 0:40:44and others a higher standard of service.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53In 1985 they responded by launching
0:40:53 > 0:40:57the upmarket-sounding Rapide service.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14The Rapide - a new dawn of luxurious coach travel beckoned.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18The Rapide commanded a slightly higher fare.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23The ordinary services would cater for the day-to-day passenger.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28The Rapide services would cater for a slightly more upmarket passenger.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33# We've got coffee, we've got tea We've got toilets if need be
0:41:33 > 0:41:36# We've got films and videos So there's lots for you to see
0:41:36 > 0:41:39# We've got seats so you can lay back just like you do on planes
0:41:39 > 0:41:42# And best of all Rapide's got Elaine
0:41:42 > 0:41:48# You've just got to meet Elaine She's a real swell girl
0:41:48 > 0:41:50# You would have to be insane
0:41:50 > 0:41:54# To choose anyone but Rapide's Elaine. #
0:41:54 > 0:41:57Rapide's got Elaine, and Jane and Kate...
0:41:57 > 0:42:03Another thing that was introduced at the time was the video film.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08Not liked by everybody, and very often the hostess or the driver
0:42:08 > 0:42:12would in fact be asked by an intending passenger,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16"Are they repeating the film that I saw last time?"
0:42:22 > 0:42:28Refreshments were provided on board, hence toilet facilities were needed as well.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32They were quite basic but adequate for the use they had.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38However basic the facilities, the toilet had a key role
0:42:38 > 0:42:41in helping the Rapide be, well, Rapide.
0:42:41 > 0:42:46The service could run for much longer distances without having to stop for convenience breaks.
0:42:50 > 0:42:55For those who weren't in quite such a rush, coaches proved adaptable in other ways, too.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59Some even set about converting coaches into travelling homes.
0:42:59 > 0:43:06And with this transformation came a new way of life for what became known as New Age Travellers.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14You can pay upwards of a couple of hundred pounds to a few thousand
0:43:14 > 0:43:18and still be able to get a reasonable service
0:43:18 > 0:43:22out of the vehicle before it finally gives up the ghost.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25You don't have to do much to one.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28You can just put down a bed base or a mattress
0:43:28 > 0:43:31and you can put a couple of shelves below the windows,
0:43:31 > 0:43:33and that's fitted, isn't it?
0:43:33 > 0:43:37But that's probably not going to be very comfortable.
0:43:37 > 0:43:43It seemed the freedom of the hippy buses of '60s was alive and well, but there were still the regulations
0:43:43 > 0:43:48of the road to contend with and the police were not always sympathetic to their ways.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55The vehicles that they used, without putting too fine a point on it,
0:43:55 > 0:44:00most of them were complete wrecks and were completely unroadworthy.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05Police concerns would come to a head as the travellers planned to meet
0:44:05 > 0:44:09for the summer solstice at Stonehenge in 1985.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14A court injunction was issued, and roadblocks set up to prevent the festival going ahead.
0:44:14 > 0:44:20And, as during the miners' strikes, coach loads of extra police were drafted in.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24The steps that had to be taken to prevent it were really a response
0:44:24 > 0:44:30to the declaration by the spokesman for those who come to the festival
0:44:30 > 0:44:32that they were determined to ignore the injunctions.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36I must stress that the National Trust will continue to say
0:44:36 > 0:44:39that we can't have the festival on this land.
0:44:40 > 0:44:46The policing of Stonehenge, which was originally Wiltshire Constabulary's responsibility,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50again they called on neighbouring forces to supply mutual aid
0:44:50 > 0:44:53because the New Age Travellers
0:44:53 > 0:44:58were becoming so large in numbers that Wiltshire couldn't cope.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02So they called on forces from Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Sussex,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05the Met and one or two other forces,
0:45:05 > 0:45:11to come and assist them in policing the hippies attending Stonehenge for the summer solstice.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16When these people decided to move - and they moved en masse - it was very difficult
0:45:16 > 0:45:22to put your hand up and say you can go no further, because they are not going to take any notice of you.
0:45:22 > 0:45:28A full-scale plan, probably something almost as big as the miners' strike, policing-wise,
0:45:28 > 0:45:30was put into operation,
0:45:30 > 0:45:36to exercise some kind of control over Stonehenge
0:45:36 > 0:45:39and the policing of the whole hippy convoy.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Because of the police opposition to such things in the past,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48we were aware that there might be legal consequences.
0:45:48 > 0:45:53There might be a court case where you'd be asked to move when you'd arrived,
0:45:53 > 0:45:59but none of us had any idea of the kind of military intervention that was about to take place.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04They were pushed into a field to basically corral them
0:46:04 > 0:46:08to start off with, so we could exercise some kind of control.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12Prior to that, they'd been driving through farmyards, through people's gardens.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17This was just another occasion where I thought the vehicle up ahead had just broken down.
0:46:17 > 0:46:23I got out of my vehicle, taking the opportunity to photograph the convoy.
0:46:23 > 0:46:29When I heard screams and glass breaking and people running about...
0:46:29 > 0:46:35With some alarm I saw a phalanx of something like 40 or 50 policemen with shields and sticks
0:46:35 > 0:46:40running down the vehicles ahead of me, breaking the windscreens
0:46:40 > 0:46:43and side windows and generally assaulting people.
0:46:46 > 0:46:51A bus ahead of me drove through a hole in the hedge, making that hole bigger.
0:46:51 > 0:46:58I saw my opportunity and took my vehicle and my family into the field to get away from the initial assault.
0:47:03 > 0:47:09The peace convoy was prevented from moving and it was only a matter of time before violence erupted.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25One of the police carriers was T-boned by a single-decker coach,
0:47:25 > 0:47:30virtually broken in half, and the two officers inside it were quite badly injured.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33It was as a direct result of that,
0:47:33 > 0:47:37that what has now become known as the Battle of Beanfield then kicked off.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45- Get out!- Open the door!
0:47:46 > 0:47:48I'm coming!
0:47:48 > 0:47:50On the deck.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54It wasn't just the coaches that were attacked by the police.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56There were many casualties.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06I was really very frightened, both for myself, my family and those that I care about around me.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13Only when the initial conflict died down was the full scale of the damage clear.
0:48:13 > 0:48:21It was simply to damage the vehicle beyond economic repair, such that when it got rained on after that day,
0:48:21 > 0:48:26that people wouldn't be able to maintain the vehicle, decommissioning the convoy.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33Those who were arrested had their coaches impounded by the police.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40Once released they were allowed to recover their vehicles.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Few were left roadworthy.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46LOUD SQUEAKING
0:48:47 > 0:48:50This is my baby's bed that he was asleep in
0:48:50 > 0:48:53when the police broke the window.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56The front of the bus - mine was probably the best on the circuit -
0:48:56 > 0:48:58and it's been totally wrecked.
0:49:00 > 0:49:04Such a violent encounter left many of the travellers' homes in pieces.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Things would never be the same again for the peace convoy.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10It did have a huge impact,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13although it didn't cure the problem completely.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17The year after, every vehicle that came into the county
0:49:17 > 0:49:19was literally taken to one side
0:49:19 > 0:49:23and inspected by the traffic department.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27If it was deemed to be unroadworthy, then the driver, the owner,
0:49:27 > 0:49:33would be given a notice to get it fixed within three days or he lost it.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35- Get out!- Open the door!
0:49:35 > 0:49:41The Battle of Beanfield all but wiped out the old coaches that were used as travelling homes.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47But today a few of the hardcore travellers have managed to cling on
0:49:47 > 0:49:52to the coach as home, and reinvented the traveller's way of life.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56Hello, my name is Buzz.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58This is my lovely Volvo bus.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00It's a right old clanger but I absolutely love it.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02I'll show you inside.
0:50:03 > 0:50:09It might be a clanger but Buzz has converted this old holiday touring coach entirely himself.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13These seats are for the crew. This is the kitchen.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16Office area. TV.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19Seating area.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27Bedroom, en suite shower.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30What more do you want? Luxury!
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Absolutely love it.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37I've been living in coaches and trucks
0:50:37 > 0:50:40for about 20 years, since 1990.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43My mum just wanted to take us and show us new things
0:50:43 > 0:50:46and take us travelling, just wanted us to be free
0:50:46 > 0:50:50and not be cooped up in a shoebox in town, basically.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54The first coach we moved into was...
0:50:54 > 0:50:56a Bedford Chinese Six.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59We moved from a Bender and a tepee into that.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02It was like a palace, it was lovely.
0:51:02 > 0:51:10It was the whole of my family - my mum, me, my little brother, Louis, Fawn and Hanna, my younger sister.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13It was like Noah's ark with all the chickens and goats.
0:51:13 > 0:51:18When we moved site we had to put all the chickens in cages and get the goat on there and off we went.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21It was literally like Noah's ark!
0:51:23 > 0:51:28I learned loads of things that have helped me a lot through my life that you wouldn't ever learn in school.
0:51:28 > 0:51:33I learned a lot about mechanics. People treated me with a lot of respect when I was younger,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37the same as any kids got treated. You don't get talked down to,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40people teach you things and treat you like their own kid.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Yeah, it really gives you that confidence when you are older to do things.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51I've travelled all round England, all over Ireland, been all over Europe.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54Everybody looks after each other, it's just like a massive family.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57That's why everyone does it, that's the attraction.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59It's like a massive family. Everyone trusts each other.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Everyone knows each other for years, it's just the way it is.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04You just can't beat it.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09Several times, tried thinking about a house.
0:52:09 > 0:52:14I only have to go and visit my friend who lives in a house and it reminds me why I can't do it.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18You've got your neighbours that hate you, you can't park anywhere.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20I just couldn't do it.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23You are crammed in there, it's just like prison as far as I'm concerned.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27I could see myself living in a coach for the rest of my life, definitely.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29You can move, you can choose your neighbours.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32It's your own home, you own your own home.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35It's just freedom in my opinion.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38It's the only way I know, really.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40And I love it.
0:52:43 > 0:52:50In the mainstream world of coach travel, National Express was privatised in 1991.
0:52:50 > 0:52:56And the Rapide, its last initiative as a nationalised bus company, became the first casualty
0:52:56 > 0:53:01of the Easyjet generation of businesses offering no-frills travel.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04It wasn't that there was a diminishing appetite for the coach, far from it.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09Coaches were diversifying, appealing to an even wider market.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16Now, we've already heard about no-frills airlines.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18How about no-frills buses?
0:53:18 > 0:53:21MUSIC: "Do The Bus A Bus" by Busta Rhymes
0:53:22 > 0:53:26# ..The bus a bus Rockin' to the beat... #
0:53:26 > 0:53:31In 2003 Stagecoach came up with a £1 fare aimed specifically
0:53:31 > 0:53:36at students and young people, using only online booking. They branded it Megabus
0:53:36 > 0:53:40and reconditioned old double-decker buses for motorway travel.
0:53:40 > 0:53:46Journey times may have been longer, the seats a little less comfortable, but who could argue with the price?
0:53:46 > 0:53:48I think it's good. If it's cheap,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51you'd get more people using it then, wouldn't you?
0:53:51 > 0:53:53It sounds very cheap.
0:53:53 > 0:53:58I do think that perhaps this is underlining that downmarket image
0:53:58 > 0:54:02of coach travel by emphasising the £1 trip,
0:54:02 > 0:54:09when in fact I think people are more interested in better quality service.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14But that's the beauty of the coach - it never has to make up its mind.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18It's the most adaptable of all forms of travel.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21The coach can be all things to all people.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24At one end of the market it can be about value for money
0:54:24 > 0:54:27and at the other about aspiring to sophistication.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34# The golden coach
0:54:34 > 0:54:39# Has a heart of gold
0:54:39 > 0:54:46# Driving through old London town... #
0:54:47 > 0:54:54You can see very posh people with their big hats arriving at Ascot, very happily moving around
0:54:54 > 0:54:58using the coaches, being seen getting in and out of a coach,
0:54:58 > 0:55:06even though it's a very upmarket day and they are probably paying hundreds of pounds to be there.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10Events like these have always been catered to by smaller, specialist firms.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20But now the idea of appealing to an upmarket class of passenger
0:55:20 > 0:55:24is once again filtering through to the mass market.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28It comes to us as a familiar name, one that originally inspired
0:55:28 > 0:55:32our first unified coach network 40 years ago.
0:55:32 > 0:55:37First Group are now beginning to roll out the Greyhound identity in Britain,
0:55:37 > 0:55:41because they think, presumably, that it will sell well
0:55:41 > 0:55:46in the British market because of its American associations
0:55:46 > 0:55:51with the open road and romanticism, and with a tradition for safety and high quality.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55So in that sense things have come full circle.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02Yet in other ways the coach industry may be at a new beginning.
0:56:02 > 0:56:08Concerns over spending and pollution show a massive demand for a cheap and green form of transport.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12One that doesn't need an expensive infrastructure to support it.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15Might that be our old friend the coach?
0:56:16 > 0:56:21In theory there are no barriers to entry for the coach revolution.
0:56:21 > 0:56:26They're here, they're fast, they're plush, they're reasonably convenient. The coach is
0:56:26 > 0:56:31a hugely green alternative. What do you get on a coach, 50 people or so?
0:56:31 > 0:56:37Stack them all on there, that takes 50 cars off the road, the emissions won't be anything like that.
0:56:38 > 0:56:43There's a lot of talk at the moment about building new high-speed rail links.
0:56:43 > 0:56:50Some people think that this is too expensive for a small country such as Britain,
0:56:50 > 0:56:57that we would actually be much better off using the motorway network to develop a really fast,
0:56:57 > 0:57:06high-speed coach network, perhaps by allowing dedicated lanes for the coach services and instigating
0:57:06 > 0:57:08shuttle services at the motorway service stations
0:57:08 > 0:57:12so that journey times could be really fast and predictable.
0:57:15 > 0:57:22The golden age of the coach might be long gone but perhaps we're entering a new, green age for coaching.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26A moment for yet another re-invention of the coach industry.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36Can everyone make sure they have their belts on for me, please?
0:57:36 > 0:57:38It is a legal requirement and it is for your own safety.
0:57:41 > 0:57:48Whatever the future of coach travel, we will always remember our journeys on a coach for better or for worse.
0:57:49 > 0:57:55Whether we be musicians, students, hippies, miners, football fans
0:57:55 > 0:58:01or businessmen, on some level we've all got a soft spot for the coach.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04Even if it's sometimes for complicated reasons.
0:58:05 > 0:58:11# Take the National Express when your life's in a mess
0:58:11 > 0:58:15# It'll make you smile... #
0:58:15 > 0:58:21The coach is the way young people can make their first travelling adventures.
0:58:21 > 0:58:27It's a refuge for people whose financial situation is not all they might hope it could be.
0:58:27 > 0:58:32And it's a refuge for people who are getting away from things, who are escaping to things.
0:58:32 > 0:58:37That bitter sweetness, it reminds people of less stable times
0:58:37 > 0:58:40in their own lives, but which they can now look back and think,
0:58:40 > 0:58:45"That was all right, actually, travelling down the M1 on a National coach. It was really quite good."
0:58:46 > 0:58:50- # ..Everybody sings - Ba, ba, ba-da, ba, ba, ba-da
0:58:50 > 0:58:52# Ba, ba, ba-da, ba, ba, ba-da
0:58:52 > 0:58:55# Ba, ba, ba-da, ba, ba, ba-da
0:58:55 > 0:58:58# Ba, ba, ba-da, ba, ba, ba-da
0:58:58 > 0:59:02# We're going where
0:59:02 > 0:59:07# The air is free. #