SUT coaches

Anyone remember them.

The offices used to be in Pond Street, near the old rent place.

Anyone know any names of the old drivers of the coaches?

When I left school in the late 50s, S U T were just about the only private coach firm in Sheffield. They took us to Belgium on a school trip in 1956, the driver was called uncle Simm by us kids, presumably that was his surname, I well remember the coach being slung aboard the ferry by a crane, this was before roll on roll off ferries. We thought it was really posh, because it had a polished wood bulkhead with a clock set in it, I believe the coaches were A E Cs.

Yep, remember SUT as a kid for the day trips to Brid. etc.

It was all very exciting as we didn't have a car. Those coaches with the wooden bulkhead and clock had a very pleasant, distinctive smell. (No idea what) The coach journey was the best bit.

My parents always gave the driver a tip.

When I was in my teens I travelled SUT with Wednesday Supporters Club which was quite ironic (Sheffield United Travel)

We all ways had a whip-round for the driver most of whom were a tolerant bunch.

There was one who wouldn't stop for me to take a leak though, the b*****d ( 2 pints in the Penny Black before departure) In the end I had to hunker down on the back seat and try my best to get it in an empty sherry bottle. With the narrow neck and the coach bouncing about it was no easy task.

What to do with it then?

The coach dropped us off right outside the ground with the Bill everywhere and as the old Baseball Ground was a bit of a toilet I left it in a corner on the terraces (as I didn't fancy walking though the Derby fans to get to the so-called toilets )

Anyway that driver has left me with a weak bladder by not stopping for a couple of minutes!

Other than that I thought the drivers were a good bunch of blokes.

I couldn't put a name to any though

Brian Brady is the name of one of the drivers. (That was me in 1964!) Mosty of the coaches back then were A.E.C. Burlinghams, under floor engine, centre door on the left side. The coaches used to be called 'goldfish bowls'. I remember driving a coach that we called the 'Golden Coach', it had won a 'concours de elegance' in Brighton in the early '60's. Wood-grain sides, and a radio!!!!! No air conditioning or on board toilet, though.

Hi Old Timer.

You must have worked there then with a Walt Fothergill and Pete Crofts. Do you remember them.

Hows life in Canada treating you?

Knew a couple of guys with those first names, never did know their last names, though. Love it in Canada, been here since 1965, wouldn't want to live anywhere else, (he says, looking out the window at a foot of snow!!!!) Been a bus driver since 1979, city work only, good money, awesome medical benefits!! Could retire with full pension in June this year, but have decided not to!

Been reading with interest about buses in Sheffield, I can't believe how bad it is! I drove for SCTD just before SUT, I don't remember it being so bad, in fact, it was classified as a better job than most. What happened?

I hate to say this, but it looks to me like the 'powers that be' have lost control (if that's the word) of the youth in Sheffield, it seems like they (youth) have no respect, although I am a firm believer that respect is earned, not taken for granted. When I left Sheffield in 1965, vandalism, and all the other forms of violence, were not tolerated, as some of the older posters on this forum will tell you, the copper would give you a clip around the earole, then you got another one when you got home. Also, the bobby lived just down the street! Knew what you were up to all the time, no air-conditioned cop cars to insulate them back then.

In 1955 I worked for a decorating company called "Gabbitas & Wood" A forman there who used to do the sign writing on the S.U.T buses His name was Betts.

I’m not quite sure about this, but wasn’t Sheffield United Tours originally formed out of two companies? One was Hancocks — they had a furniture warehouse, Hancock and Lant, which just after the second world war moved to a site near Lady’s Bridge — and the other was, as you say, Sheffield United Tours. It was a merger rather than a buy-out. I well remember the old Hancock coaches and went on one to be among the first to travel through Liverpool’s Mersey Tunnel!

I used to use the SUT service to race meetings and I think the driver was called Jack. He'd take the bus to Doncaster on the Friday via the old Conisborough route and allow the bookies to leave their tackle in the boot for the following day. After the 'cap' had been brought round, there was a big shout: "He thanks you one and all"

There was a period when the car was becoming popular when SUT wouldn't run unless they'd got 15 wanting to go. As a result, people who needed to be there went to Rotherham to travel on the Riley's bus and this was the beginning of the end. I remember before it moved to Pond Street, you could book down the Arcade off The Moor.

Another driver who took the SUT coaches, including the team bus of Sheffield Wednesday, Colin Parsons, otherwise known as 'Big Col'.

Now I'm going to show my age!

Befor it was called SUT (Sheffield United Tours) it was called UMS (United Motor Services). Can't remember when they changed the name. It could have been in the 1940s or early 1950s - a long time ago.

In addition to all the other services, I think they ran a daily bus to Blackpool. It may not have been an all-year-round service, just the summer and for the Illuminations. Anybody remember it?

You’re quite right Falls! Now you’ve jogged my memory, United Motor Services was the name given to the merger! Before that, Hancocks was a bus company on its own but still owned by Mr Hancock of Hancock and Lant.

Thanks for enlightening me!

I remember the name U.M.S as well. Perhaps it was they that had the booking office on the Union Street arcade, at the head of which the blind man selling lavender stood?

I can also recall occasions when Sheffield Wednesday's fixture at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, clashed with the town's illuminations and the match excursion bus was extended to take in a tour of the lights about 7pm.

One such occasion would have been 29 August 1964!