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Pappa India

Yes, I remember the time the Trident crashed near the "Crooked Billet" pub. I was driving a 116 bus and was on the bus stand in Staines. The journey to Staines from Hounslow was uneventful. I had about 20 minutes before I was due to leave for my journey back to Hounslow. I left the stand at my allotted time and drove into the High Street and there I stopped. The traffic was horrendous. After some 30 minutes I arrived at the Crooked Billet roundabout. Police were everywhere. I was told by one police officer what had happened. Eventually I was allowed to proceed. I negotiated the roundabout and drove towards Ashford Hospital only to be met with a sea of people walking towards me. At the time I thought "WHAT GHOULS". They were walking in the middle of the road. I found out later that the incident had been transmitted by all the Radio and T.V. stations. The emergency services had much trouble getting to the scene. Maybe someone could have been saved if the services had been able to arrive earlier. We will never know. Not one of my best memories of being a bus driver.

Written by Ivor Seymour. To send Ivor Seymour a private message, click here.

A memory of London Heathrow Airport in Middlesex shared on Monday, 14th March 2011.

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RE: RE: Pappa India

Ivor brought back memories of the days when the buses played a big part in everyone's life. The dances above Burtons the tailor in Houslow finished at 11.00pm and we were able to rush and catch the last bus home...in the 1950s there were not so many cars about. Once when the 'smog' was around for almost a week and you couldn't see a hand in front of your face because of the awful yellow fog, the buses still ran. I waited at Hounslow Heath, having finished work at Parke Davis, for the bus to Lower Feltham and there it came with the driver crawling along following the kerb....it was a time that most people cannot imagine. Often the buses were so full that people had to wait for the next one - now they are nearly always empty.

Comment from Carol-Anne Wilkins on Friday, 8th April 2011.

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