Can anybody remember the old Pond Street bus station ( I am talking late 70's and into the 80's) and the 11.15 pm whistle.

It was quite bizarre thinking about it now. The last bus on all the routes was 11.15 and all the buses would have revving engines from about 11.10pm. The inspector would stroll out and blow the whistle at 11.15 after which there was a stampede to see which bus could get out of Pond Street first.

I could be wrong but think that this continued until deregulation in 1986.

They had the same set-up on the High Street with the last bus at 2 am'ishwith all the buses engines running waiting for the sound of that whistle. Walking down Fargate you'd hear it and see the buses start moving then it was a simple choice walk home or SPRINT back up towards the Peace Gardens hoping that the bus would be held up there by people getting on. Usually you were greeted with the receding rear lights and a desire to regurgitate your alcohol diet violently. Very, very annoying, missing the bus that is.

Yep, it went on right up to de-reg, I was one of the inspectors who blew the whistle, it also took place in Bridge St bus station and Campo Lane. We always asked the drivers to start there engines just prior to departure, nothing worse than a "non-starter" at that time of night, if that happened, I would have to stay there untill the fitters arrived from the garage, and all the passengers had been transferred to another alternative.
We, (the inspectors) were all provided with an "Acme Thunderer", the same sort of whistle "bobbies" had, when I think of it now it seems like something in the distant past!

Originally posted by Mo
Can anybody remember the old Pond Street bus station ( I am talking late 70's and into the 80's) and the 11.15 pm whistle.

It was quite bizarre thinking about it now. The last bus on all the routes was 11.15 and all the buses would have revving engines from about 11.10pm. The inspector would stroll out and blow the whistle at 11.15 after which there was a stampede to see which bus could get out of Pond Street first.

I could be wrong but think that this continued until deregulation in 1986.

I worked on the buses in mid seventies and remember the whistle we were always in commercial street on the 95s known as "the tingalary track"

71/72 worked at eichmans corparation street,silly shift 6pm till 1 am, we used to leg it to pond street to get the 1.15 am bus,like you said the inspector used to blow his whistle and all the buses would pull out,if we were late and missed the 1.15 bus pond street was like a ghost town and we,d end up walking home.

married to ex sheffield bus driver who used to do this and the best times he remembers of this was when you were the last bus in the line usually the 27, 63/64 and to get to pond hill traffic light first which he frequently did, much to the annoyance of the inspenctors, he actually got stopped by the police in a speed trap going down abbeydale road in Mexican Overdrive in other words for those who do not know out of gear!!!!!!!!! this was the early 1980's

Yes I remember well, the drivers would sit there until they saw someone running like hell, then take off leaving you there :mad:

i am sure if you could have caught them you would have had a word to say

i am sure if you could have caught them you would have had a word to say

I think I would have been out of breath menaji to say anything :hihi:

Yes I remember this I used to get the no 83 from outside the Co-op and they often set off a bit before the whistle, one night one I was on hit a woman on the High Street she was badly hurt.

All hell was let loose as the driver shouldnt have been there as the whistle hadnt gone they never set off early again as I can remember.

Dont know what happened to the driver wonder if he got the sack.

ps they were not called inspectors in those days by the drivers, but insects, sorry lads no insult intended, just the truth as remembered.

Remember the Campo Lane vividly.

At around 11pm every Friday and Saturday night, it seemed like everyone from Stannington and Oughtibridge were in The Golden Ball, opposite the bus stops waiting for services 7 and 65 to the above named villages.

We used to position ourselves near the door overlooking the stops, keeping an eye out for the buses filling up, hoping our watches read the same time as the Inspectors.

Missed the last 'un a couple of times and in those days it was a 'double-whammy' if you did. No late night buses and 'time' had already been called!

Does anyone know if the same practice took place in Rotherham? I don't remember ever hearing a whistle, but a few people I know are adamant that there was one.

The last buses always left at 10:45 PM (even after they put closing time back to 11, annoyingly enough) and I often found myself staggering rapidly for one of the last buses to Wickersley. A handy trick to know was that if you missed it by a gnat's, if you turned round and legged it back up Howard Street, past the Tec and onto Donny Gate, you would usually get to the first stop on Wellgate before the bus did thanks to the one-way system and its abundance of traffic lights:thumbsup:

Can anybody remember the old Pond Street bus station ( I am talking late 70's and into the 80's) and the 11.15 pm whistle.

It was quite bizarre thinking about it now. The last bus on all the routes was 11.15 and all the buses would have revving engines from about 11.10pm. The inspector would stroll out and blow the whistle at 11.15 after which there was a stampede to see which bus could get out of Pond Street first.

I could be wrong but think that this continued until deregulation in 1986.

I was a "clippie" 1951-1963 and can remember the last whistle. It always reminded me of the Grand National
Tatty Dumps

I was another 'whistle blower' and.......still got that whistle!

I can remember the "last bus race" even in 59/60....Running down the steps that ran from the corner of Fitzalan Square down to Pond Street and breathing a sigh of relief, if you had managed to catch the bus before it went...:hihi: