By this time I had been working for quite a few years in the depot and Allocations group and was very experienced. I had been joined on the team by Owen Pritchard and Sue Imhoof and Hilary Jodrell. We all became good friends and in fact Hilary,Sue and myself all got made up as inspectors together back in 1982.
Along with Taffy Ismail the senior man of the group we made a good team and worked well. But Owen was made for higher things and moved through the job onto the training department in the company.
To sort out the shift problems it was decided to change our shifts and the depot man would work eight days on from 03.30 to 2.30 pm. We then had six days off to recover. As I would normally work one of those as a rest day for the extra money I was bloody knackered at times!
This went on for several years and with holidays or sickness from others in the team we just had to work their shifts and get on with it. At one point I worked eleven days on the trot getting up at 2.30 in the morning. By the time that was over I just about collapsed. It was really no way to carry on but we just took it as normal back then.
I worked with Sue most of the time and we took it in turns to alternate the depot shifts. As Sue was single she could please herself what she did when she got home. I did not have that luxury and the hours began to tell.
In the next blog Cardiff Bus begins to slowly modernise and come in to the 20th century and my shifts change again.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Allocations
As I have said the group was called Allocations and it was then and is still now the busiest of all the teams on Cardiff Bus. It was highly specialised and has become more so over the years. More to come in later blogs about that.
There are two areas that we worked in, Leckwith depot where the early morning drivers signed on and Wood Street where the later staff sign on. The same job was done in both but whereas the depot man worked on his own in Wood St there were three people as the holidays and lieu days were organized there and more staff were needed.
When I say that the depot man worked on his own, we did have in the early days what was known as a 'number one'. This was a driver that worked with us behind the counter and would keep an eye out for any drivers that failed to come in. They were trained on every route that we worked and could at a moments notice go out and drive for me.
They were damn useful at times but as they got older and retired they were not replaced. All parts were busy but I liked and still like today the depot area more than town. It was then and still is today noisier and you could laugh and joke a lot more. Think of it as the factory shop floor of the bus depot.
By the time 6.00 to 7.00 in the morning came there would be up to 25 drivers signing on every five minutes or so and many wanting overtime or with other queries. You were on the go and by the time the last one came in glad of a break.
The only downside of the depot sign on was the early start. I started at .03.45 in the morning, a time I am still starting today at. The upside was the early finish as you were away by 12.00. I was OK at it and it certainly sorted out any problems getting up that I might of had!
One part of the job that bored me silly was the manual making up of the sign on sheets. We had to write these out by hand and did for years until the computers came in. That is for a later blog though. We also had to pay all overtime manually and take the sheets to the payroll section so they could sort out the weekly pay.
In the next blog I will describe the change in shifts that came around because of staff shortage.
There are two areas that we worked in, Leckwith depot where the early morning drivers signed on and Wood Street where the later staff sign on. The same job was done in both but whereas the depot man worked on his own in Wood St there were three people as the holidays and lieu days were organized there and more staff were needed.
When I say that the depot man worked on his own, we did have in the early days what was known as a 'number one'. This was a driver that worked with us behind the counter and would keep an eye out for any drivers that failed to come in. They were trained on every route that we worked and could at a moments notice go out and drive for me.
They were damn useful at times but as they got older and retired they were not replaced. All parts were busy but I liked and still like today the depot area more than town. It was then and still is today noisier and you could laugh and joke a lot more. Think of it as the factory shop floor of the bus depot.
By the time 6.00 to 7.00 in the morning came there would be up to 25 drivers signing on every five minutes or so and many wanting overtime or with other queries. You were on the go and by the time the last one came in glad of a break.
The only downside of the depot sign on was the early start. I started at .03.45 in the morning, a time I am still starting today at. The upside was the early finish as you were away by 12.00. I was OK at it and it certainly sorted out any problems getting up that I might of had!
One part of the job that bored me silly was the manual making up of the sign on sheets. We had to write these out by hand and did for years until the computers came in. That is for a later blog though. We also had to pay all overtime manually and take the sheets to the payroll section so they could sort out the weekly pay.
In the next blog I will describe the change in shifts that came around because of staff shortage.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Moving on
Well of course we all have to move on even after that horrible crash. For some time I did not even want to drive a bus but in the end I just got on with it. The job remained the same and I worked the bus station as normal and the radio control and checked tickets.
The piss taking carried on and what could I do? As I have said you just have to take it. Not that I did not bite back of course. Words and sarcasm have been tools of mine all my adult life and those who gave it out got some of it back. It died down of course a bit but even over 20 years later there are still those that remember it and have the occasional joke at my expense.
About 12 months later the nature of the job that I do changed for the rest of my working life here on Cardiff Bus. I had taken an interest in the depot side of the job for some time and got the chance to make it permanent. I will put something here so that perhaps it is somewhat easier to understand the nature of the job I do now.
Driver's start anywhere in the morning from 04.09 am to 08.00 am in the depot at Leckwith and then later in the day in the town area in Wood St from about 08.30 to 16.30. There has to be a supervisor to sign them on and that supervisor would give out overtime if there is any to be worked,(and there usually is) and if a driver failed to turn up for some reason or phoned in sick he or she has to find a replacement.
We would also make up the sign on sheets, pay the overtime, arrange lieu days and holidays and other things. All in all it is a very busy job. It must be in the blood because my father had done the job before he retired. I took an interest in it and was shown the ropes by Dave Morgan who I had become friendly with over the years. He was getting to the end of his time and showed the young inspector what to do.
When he opted for early retirement the only person who really had knowledge of the job was me. In those days of course experience and knowledge took priority not having a good interview and some paper qualifications like it seems to be today.
So I took on the job that was to last me over 20 years. We were called until a few years ago the Allocations group and I started as a member of a small team. This has expanded over the years as the job has got more complicated. More later over that.
Was I perfect from the start? Of course not, who is? But I picked up more knowledge as the weeks and months passed and learned who you could rely on to work overtime or come in on time and who you could not. There is a knack to dealing with people and I hope that over the years I have learned this skill. I was told by some of the older drivers that I was much like my father in dealing with staff and I will take that as a great compliment.
The piss taking carried on and what could I do? As I have said you just have to take it. Not that I did not bite back of course. Words and sarcasm have been tools of mine all my adult life and those who gave it out got some of it back. It died down of course a bit but even over 20 years later there are still those that remember it and have the occasional joke at my expense.
About 12 months later the nature of the job that I do changed for the rest of my working life here on Cardiff Bus. I had taken an interest in the depot side of the job for some time and got the chance to make it permanent. I will put something here so that perhaps it is somewhat easier to understand the nature of the job I do now.
Driver's start anywhere in the morning from 04.09 am to 08.00 am in the depot at Leckwith and then later in the day in the town area in Wood St from about 08.30 to 16.30. There has to be a supervisor to sign them on and that supervisor would give out overtime if there is any to be worked,(and there usually is) and if a driver failed to turn up for some reason or phoned in sick he or she has to find a replacement.
We would also make up the sign on sheets, pay the overtime, arrange lieu days and holidays and other things. All in all it is a very busy job. It must be in the blood because my father had done the job before he retired. I took an interest in it and was shown the ropes by Dave Morgan who I had become friendly with over the years. He was getting to the end of his time and showed the young inspector what to do.
When he opted for early retirement the only person who really had knowledge of the job was me. In those days of course experience and knowledge took priority not having a good interview and some paper qualifications like it seems to be today.
So I took on the job that was to last me over 20 years. We were called until a few years ago the Allocations group and I started as a member of a small team. This has expanded over the years as the job has got more complicated. More later over that.
Was I perfect from the start? Of course not, who is? But I picked up more knowledge as the weeks and months passed and learned who you could rely on to work overtime or come in on time and who you could not. There is a knack to dealing with people and I hope that over the years I have learned this skill. I was told by some of the older drivers that I was much like my father in dealing with staff and I will take that as a great compliment.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
After the crash
Well as you can imagine after a crash like that I got a lot of stick for it. In some places it would be called 'taking the mickey' but we call it 'taking the piss'. Well I have done my fair share of it in the past and am still doing it today. So you have to take it on the chin.
That is not to say that the staff were not sympathetic because they were. I was not the only person to take a bus under a bridge. Several had been done over the years and ALL by very experienced drivers. But after the initial shock and getting my job back, OH! did it start!
The usual ones like 'a bridge to far' and others came my way and followed me for years after that. Pictures of the bus that I crashed were shown to new entrants as a warning about bridges and the dangers of going of route. I even got my name in 'The Sun', the national newspaper. Just a small piece but it was there.
But when you do something like that there is only two ways to go. You can get nasty and punch the lights out of the first person to say anything or you can take it on the chin and wait for it to die down. And it always will because sooner or later there will be someone that does something else. As I was built for comfort and not fighting of course I just took it.
The boss who had the job to sack me and then give me my job back was behind the scenes very sympathetic. One day not long after the event when I was in work on my own he came in and just said, 'Steve, how the f*^k did you manage that'. We had a long talk over it and he was a good guy. He came across as a hard man but never sacked a man without massive cause.
So that was that and in the next blog I will put in a bit about how my job changed for the next 20 odd years.
That is not to say that the staff were not sympathetic because they were. I was not the only person to take a bus under a bridge. Several had been done over the years and ALL by very experienced drivers. But after the initial shock and getting my job back, OH! did it start!
The usual ones like 'a bridge to far' and others came my way and followed me for years after that. Pictures of the bus that I crashed were shown to new entrants as a warning about bridges and the dangers of going of route. I even got my name in 'The Sun', the national newspaper. Just a small piece but it was there.
But when you do something like that there is only two ways to go. You can get nasty and punch the lights out of the first person to say anything or you can take it on the chin and wait for it to die down. And it always will because sooner or later there will be someone that does something else. As I was built for comfort and not fighting of course I just took it.
The boss who had the job to sack me and then give me my job back was behind the scenes very sympathetic. One day not long after the event when I was in work on my own he came in and just said, 'Steve, how the f*^k did you manage that'. We had a long talk over it and he was a good guy. He came across as a hard man but never sacked a man without massive cause.
So that was that and in the next blog I will put in a bit about how my job changed for the next 20 odd years.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
The worst day of my life
Well as I said in the last blog post I made a massive error that cost a lot of money to both myself and the firm and could have cost me my job.
The day was a Sunday and started normally. I was by this time quite experienced and worked the bus station point a lot. This was even on a Sunday quite a busy place and you were kept on the go. At that time we were quite short staffed and one of the jobs that we used 'spare drivers' for was to go back and fore to the bus depot and change a bus if one came in with a problem.
Well on this day I had no drivers and needed to get a new one from the depot so I decided to do it myself. This was a common event and one that I had done dozens of times. So down I drove to the depot about 1 1/2 miles away and changed the bus that I was driving for another one.
And this is where it all went wrong.......
To go back to our bus depot the route was right from the exit and then on a standard route. I took the left turn, just thinking of something else at the time and took the route that I had taken in my car many times before. What I had forgotten was that I was driving a double decker bus. I turned left from the depot and then the next left. This route had a low bridge there that our buses were strictly banned from.
So I then took a 13 foot bus under a 12 foot bridge......
At the time I could not make out what was going on as the bus just seemed to have problems moving. Well it would do wouldn't it? After a few minutes I realised what had happened and stopped. But by this time I was out the other side and the top of the bus was on the floor behind the bus.
I immediately called for emergency help and got the control room to sort out police etc. After the whole thing had been sorted out I was suspended and told to come back the next day. I was dismissed from the company and after investigation was given my job back due to my good record.
So the cost? Well the bus had to be scrapped and the bridge checked by professionals. For myself I was due a good pay rise and I had been relying on that. But I was glad to have a job I guess and to wait a year for that pay rise was a small thing after that.
I was also charged with driving without due care and attention by the police and had my licence endorsed and fined. But I had a job and just had to put up with the fun that was made of me at the time.
The day was a Sunday and started normally. I was by this time quite experienced and worked the bus station point a lot. This was even on a Sunday quite a busy place and you were kept on the go. At that time we were quite short staffed and one of the jobs that we used 'spare drivers' for was to go back and fore to the bus depot and change a bus if one came in with a problem.
Well on this day I had no drivers and needed to get a new one from the depot so I decided to do it myself. This was a common event and one that I had done dozens of times. So down I drove to the depot about 1 1/2 miles away and changed the bus that I was driving for another one.
And this is where it all went wrong.......
To go back to our bus depot the route was right from the exit and then on a standard route. I took the left turn, just thinking of something else at the time and took the route that I had taken in my car many times before. What I had forgotten was that I was driving a double decker bus. I turned left from the depot and then the next left. This route had a low bridge there that our buses were strictly banned from.
So I then took a 13 foot bus under a 12 foot bridge......
At the time I could not make out what was going on as the bus just seemed to have problems moving. Well it would do wouldn't it? After a few minutes I realised what had happened and stopped. But by this time I was out the other side and the top of the bus was on the floor behind the bus.
I immediately called for emergency help and got the control room to sort out police etc. After the whole thing had been sorted out I was suspended and told to come back the next day. I was dismissed from the company and after investigation was given my job back due to my good record.
So the cost? Well the bus had to be scrapped and the bridge checked by professionals. For myself I was due a good pay rise and I had been relying on that. But I was glad to have a job I guess and to wait a year for that pay rise was a small thing after that.
I was also charged with driving without due care and attention by the police and had my licence endorsed and fined. But I had a job and just had to put up with the fun that was made of me at the time.
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Tickets and more
As I said in the last blog not all the life was checking tickets. If there was any major incident and we were in reach we could be called to go there.
This could include arguments between passenger and driver that had blown out of proportion, accidents between bus and car or sometimes pedestrians, or perhaps when the city was hosting an international rugby match and buses were pulled out of the city centre we would be sent to deal with that.
All in all the job was interesting and varied and of course there was promotion to the next level to work toward. This was called the G.D. or general duties inspector and was another move upward. Although in fact as junior inspectors we worked on most points as they were called the G.D.'s worked point work most of the time.
Point work as it was called was the static area that was covered by inspectors and included the Bus Station where you would deal with the buses that came in and out all the time, and the Castle point where you would deal with the fewer buses that used that area. This point was were my future career in Cardiff Bus changed for life but more of that much later.
The CBS or station point was the busiest of the lot and there would be two on at all times as buses came in every minute or so and you had to check the times and make sure that if a bus was due a relief driver then he or she turned up and on time and if not why not.
This was where the junior inspectors started to learn the ropes and had someone to guide them that knew what they were doing. The Castle point was seen as the easier point and you would be put on there after a while and left to run it on your own.
You could also get out of the way and have a cup of tea in the local cafe with no-one bothering you to much. You could also get caught having that tea so had to keep your eyes out! I once got caught reading a paper on the back seat of the spare bus we kept there and given a right bollocking!
But we slowly learned the ropes and then looked toward the promotion trail as other inspectors retired, much as the colleagues that I work with are doing now as I am due to retire. I was due for promotion if not to the next level but in monetary terms in 1988 and it all went hugely wrong one day. Read about this in the next blog.
This could include arguments between passenger and driver that had blown out of proportion, accidents between bus and car or sometimes pedestrians, or perhaps when the city was hosting an international rugby match and buses were pulled out of the city centre we would be sent to deal with that.
All in all the job was interesting and varied and of course there was promotion to the next level to work toward. This was called the G.D. or general duties inspector and was another move upward. Although in fact as junior inspectors we worked on most points as they were called the G.D.'s worked point work most of the time.
Point work as it was called was the static area that was covered by inspectors and included the Bus Station where you would deal with the buses that came in and out all the time, and the Castle point where you would deal with the fewer buses that used that area. This point was were my future career in Cardiff Bus changed for life but more of that much later.
The CBS or station point was the busiest of the lot and there would be two on at all times as buses came in every minute or so and you had to check the times and make sure that if a bus was due a relief driver then he or she turned up and on time and if not why not.
This was where the junior inspectors started to learn the ropes and had someone to guide them that knew what they were doing. The Castle point was seen as the easier point and you would be put on there after a while and left to run it on your own.
You could also get out of the way and have a cup of tea in the local cafe with no-one bothering you to much. You could also get caught having that tea so had to keep your eyes out! I once got caught reading a paper on the back seat of the spare bus we kept there and given a right bollocking!
But we slowly learned the ropes and then looked toward the promotion trail as other inspectors retired, much as the colleagues that I work with are doing now as I am due to retire. I was due for promotion if not to the next level but in monetary terms in 1988 and it all went hugely wrong one day. Read about this in the next blog.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
The Ticket Inspector
Well as I have said in the summer of 1982 I finally made it up to ticket inspector. In some parts of the UK that is not the starting point but in Cardiff that was and still is where you start out. I say just a ticket inspector but in fact you went to a lot of different things as I shall explain over this and other blogs.
Of course the main idea was to check the ticket that the passenger has paid for and make sure that they were not over riding,( travelling further than they had paid for) or perhaps young adults were paying the correct fare. They had a habit of paying half fare and saying they were 15 years old even if they were 16,17 or even 18 sometimes. The driver, (and these were nearly all one man buses by now) even if he suspected them did not have time to check.
The quick check that caught nearly all of them out was ' 'can I have your date of birth please'? The times that they messed that up and gave me a year that proved they were over 16 was huge! It was then either pay the correct fare or get off. There was a standard excess fare I could charge as well of about four times the maximum fare and I used that if I thought they were really at it.
The rule of the company was to check roughly 28 buses a day or about four an hour over the shift. That was not to difficult but if you were stuck out of Cardiff and missed the bus you had been aiming for that could ruin the check day. If perhaps I had been dealing with a passenger complaint and that took some time up then I could record that on a checking sheet as 'dealing with passenger' 15 minutes or whatever.
Of course that excuse could also be used when I stopped of for a cup of tea! I very often 'checked' my way up to Llanedeyrn the area of Cardiff that I live in and went home for a cuppa and then back out again.
You could have a laugh with the passengers as well as check tickets. As long as they had paid the correct fare they were not bothered about you being there and as I have said I have always got on with people and this was no different. I can remember one day running up the stairs to check the tickets and when I bobbed up the lady sitting on the top seat said 'Oh my God!' so I answered back ' No but you're close! Tickets please!'.
Another way they saved a little money was not paying for children and saying they were only four years old when they were over. I checked one young mum's ticket and as I get on with kids I was saying hello. Of course I said has the little one got a ticket and she said 'no she is only four'. Of course the little girl dropped her in it and piped up 'no I am not mum I am five'. I had to laugh as she tried the 'I forgot she was the older one' excuse. She of course got charged for her child as we both knew she was trying it on.
And of course there was the other side when things were not quite as pleasant. Young men trying to show off and thinking they were tough. I am a big man and even back then I was on the large side and although I have never used my size they do think twice about starting trouble.
I was checking tickets on one bus when the gang of boys decided either they had not paid enough or it was their stop and it was time to piss off the inspector. So they made a rush for the stairs to get off. One young man tried to push me over in the narrow isle. Now like I have said I am not small and I had on the thick great coat we used to wear for winter and it took one gentle nudge and he went flying over the seat in front! Of course I was 'Oh you seem to have tripped, are you OK?'. We both knew what had happened and he just looked at me and ran downstairs.
We also carried radios in case problems and could radio for assistance if necessary. They were made by Motorola and were their 'sometimes' brand. Sometime they worked and sometimes they did not! But in the case of trouble they were useful even If they did not work. In one case a guy had 'over ridden' and would not pay the excess fare and was intent of being a pain in the arse. So I picked up the radio that I knew would not work and called in for police assistance. Within minutes he had paid the fare.
More on the life of an Inspector in the next blog.
Of course the main idea was to check the ticket that the passenger has paid for and make sure that they were not over riding,( travelling further than they had paid for) or perhaps young adults were paying the correct fare. They had a habit of paying half fare and saying they were 15 years old even if they were 16,17 or even 18 sometimes. The driver, (and these were nearly all one man buses by now) even if he suspected them did not have time to check.
The quick check that caught nearly all of them out was ' 'can I have your date of birth please'? The times that they messed that up and gave me a year that proved they were over 16 was huge! It was then either pay the correct fare or get off. There was a standard excess fare I could charge as well of about four times the maximum fare and I used that if I thought they were really at it.
The rule of the company was to check roughly 28 buses a day or about four an hour over the shift. That was not to difficult but if you were stuck out of Cardiff and missed the bus you had been aiming for that could ruin the check day. If perhaps I had been dealing with a passenger complaint and that took some time up then I could record that on a checking sheet as 'dealing with passenger' 15 minutes or whatever.
Of course that excuse could also be used when I stopped of for a cup of tea! I very often 'checked' my way up to Llanedeyrn the area of Cardiff that I live in and went home for a cuppa and then back out again.
You could have a laugh with the passengers as well as check tickets. As long as they had paid the correct fare they were not bothered about you being there and as I have said I have always got on with people and this was no different. I can remember one day running up the stairs to check the tickets and when I bobbed up the lady sitting on the top seat said 'Oh my God!' so I answered back ' No but you're close! Tickets please!'.
Another way they saved a little money was not paying for children and saying they were only four years old when they were over. I checked one young mum's ticket and as I get on with kids I was saying hello. Of course I said has the little one got a ticket and she said 'no she is only four'. Of course the little girl dropped her in it and piped up 'no I am not mum I am five'. I had to laugh as she tried the 'I forgot she was the older one' excuse. She of course got charged for her child as we both knew she was trying it on.
And of course there was the other side when things were not quite as pleasant. Young men trying to show off and thinking they were tough. I am a big man and even back then I was on the large side and although I have never used my size they do think twice about starting trouble.
I was checking tickets on one bus when the gang of boys decided either they had not paid enough or it was their stop and it was time to piss off the inspector. So they made a rush for the stairs to get off. One young man tried to push me over in the narrow isle. Now like I have said I am not small and I had on the thick great coat we used to wear for winter and it took one gentle nudge and he went flying over the seat in front! Of course I was 'Oh you seem to have tripped, are you OK?'. We both knew what had happened and he just looked at me and ran downstairs.
We also carried radios in case problems and could radio for assistance if necessary. They were made by Motorola and were their 'sometimes' brand. Sometime they worked and sometimes they did not! But in the case of trouble they were useful even If they did not work. In one case a guy had 'over ridden' and would not pay the excess fare and was intent of being a pain in the arse. So I picked up the radio that I knew would not work and called in for police assistance. Within minutes he had paid the fare.
More on the life of an Inspector in the next blog.
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