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I first started driving buses in Darwen at the age of 21 in 1951, wrote Allan Huntingdon. It had been my ambition for a number of years, so as I had started as a conductor, I was given the opportunity to learn to drive. Fortunately, I managed to pass the test on the first try so now I was off.
The Darwen bus service was quite simple as the routes were quite short. For instance the shortest journey was Bold Venture Park that took just five minutes. The longest journey was Darwen Cemetery to Blackburn Boulevard, which was a thirty-minute journey.
All the other routes were just ten minutes each way such as Hoddlesden, Sunnyhurst, Cranberry Lane and Tockholes. The only other routes which were longer were works' buses such as Mullard's, ROF Euxton and much later the miners at Hoddlesden Colliery.
I must tell you about the miners. When I first started driving, the colliers used to catch the Hoddlesden bus and ride up to the pit head on the small coal trucks. Then things began to look up. The powers that be decided that it was time for the miners to experience a little luxury.
They built showers so that the men wouldn't have to go to work in their dirty clothes. This meant that they needed a bus to get them near the pit head, so a road was made from the shower block to Broadhead Road, which was the road between Haslingden New Road and Turton village. Darwen Transport duty provided a bus service to the pit head.
One winter morning I was scheduled to do the 'Pit Run' as it was duly called. It had been snowing very hard during the night and I was told to go as far as I could and if I considered it impassable I was to turn round and come back.
Well, I had about thirty-five miners on board, all dressed up and looking like they were going on a day out. The journey took us through Lower Darwen and up past the Fuse Factory to Guide. Turn right at Guide on to Haslingden Road, and although the snow was still falling, the road was just about passable.
That is until we reached Broadhead Road. There we fond a 3 ft drift of snow and it was obvious no vehicle had passed through it. I was forced to stop at that junction as there was traffic coming the other way The snow was hard-packed on the ground and I was unable to get a grip so I had to reverse about a quarter of a mile to the last straight stretch of road.
I was determined to try to break through the drift to get the men to work. I set off again and got quite a good speed up to the junction and was forced to stop again as more traffic came the other way.
I almost gave up -- when one of the miners suggested that they stopped the traffic coming down and, if I managed to get through, I could wait for them at the top of the rise, which was about fifty yards. I thought it was worth a try so I reversed down the road again and, as before, got a good run and, sure enough, the miners stopped the oncoming traffic and I belted through the drift successfully.
I eventually got the men to work and phoned in to let them know at the depot what had happened. They told me I would have to wait at the pit head until a breakdown vehicle with a more experienced driver came to relieve me, as they were afraid I might damage the bus.
That meant a long wait, and when the miners heard of our predicament, they provided us with hot drinks and even shared their sandwiches. It was about five hours before the relief arrived. How's that for excitement? It certainly was for us!
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