Amarjit celebrates 50 Years at the wheel
1 week ago
We sat down with driver Amarjit Singh to celebrate his 50th year working with the company recently and he had a lot of stories about his time at Reading Buses.
too young to drive
Amarjit started with the company in 1975 as a fresh-faced 22 year old. It was his third job after working making copper piping for heating systems and making bearings for cars, and it was only after chatting to a friend who worked at Reading Buses that he decided to apply. Back then, he was considered to be too young to drive a bus, so started out as a conductor. He did this role for about three years.
His starting wage was just 75p per hour, but he assured us that this was actually OK as goods were much cheaper back then - in fact, he said it allowed him to buy his house quite young.
progressing to driving
Once he started driving, Amarjit found himself on Routemasters which he says were very heavy to drive - from heavy steering to clunky gears. He had to use manual chocks on his bus and race back through the emergency exit once he removed them as the bus would start moving - he confirms that our safety standards nowadays are much higher!
The buses back then had no heating and no radio - if you broke down, you were expected to find a public phone to alert the inspectors - although if you didn't appear after a while, they would send the emergency engineer to you. He said that although the roads were much quieter, delays did still occur and had to be dealt with in the town centre after you got back due to the lack of radios.
tickets from the driver
A big change came in around 1980 as conductors started to disappear and drivers were expected to issue their own tickets. He said that training was given and he actually enjoyed doing both the driving and ticket issuing - although others weren't so keen.
During this period, he drove lots of routes, including the X1 to Southend in one direction and Aldgate in the other. Due to high train ticket prices, the buses were always full leaving Reading and most of the time they had to be followed by a spare to pick up more passengers as the route progressed!
politics
During his time, Amarjit remembers an industrial strike around 1977 which lasted for 13 days - however, he said that it was largely ignored and nothing changed so the drivers had to go back to work - having had to forgo their pay for that period. Longer term, though industrial action did help change pay and working conditions.
The make up at Reading Buses was very multi-cultural even back then - Amarjit remembers there being a few drivers from the West Indies as well as from Asia.
a chilly story
One thing that Amarjit remembers is that on the old Routemasters, there was a hole where the steering wheel column came up through the floor, meaning there was a terrible draft. He said drivers used to put their trousers into their socks and then tie them up with string to keep the cold out! He says the buses are definitely better now.
Overall, he has enjoyed driving and interacting with customers. He was a school bus driver for a long time and tells of a story that recently a man got on his bus and told him that he had been his school bus driver and remembered him - the man was now 50 years old!
Amarjit the hero
Amarjit has also been in the paper for his exploits helping to catch a burglar. The person had been robbing old people's houses and the police had sent a picture round of the suspect. Amarjit recognised the man as he got on his bus and radioed through to control who alerted the authorities. A little further on the route, police appeared and the man tried to flee by climbing on the roof of a house, but was caught. The police were grateful and gave him a certificate.
Amarjit says the best piece of advice he was given was to leave your worries at work and go home happy. This is something he does to this day and we are honoured that he is still a part of our Reading Buses family. Thank you and congratulations, Amarjit!