Burtons Coaches G619 OTV at Hundon - 4 October 2006 (565-19A)

Wednesday 4 October 2006 - All the Burtons Coaches double deckers were based at Haverhill with the smaller midi-buses outstationed at Mildenhall. However, Mildenhall duty 101 included operation of one double decker trip on the 1430 hours Suffolk County Council supported service 944 from Haverhill to Chevington which is a slight variant of the regular service 344. SCC numbers its school related runs in the ‘nine hundred series’ some of which are also included in the public timetables are available to the general public. A small number of fare paying public passengers usually boarded this bus at Haverhill bus station bound for Kedington (choice of 3 passengers); Hundon (choice of 3 passengers) and Stradishall (one old boy on his way back from the pub in Haverhill!) – there was never more than five on at any one time. On Mondays and Fridays when the pupils of Samuel Ward Upper School finished at 1430 the service called in the school at 1435 and got almost full. The furthest point we usually ran to was Clopton Green just past Wickhambrook ‘council houses’ on the A143 Haverhill-Bury road.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays when the school closes later the pupils catch a later 944 service, we didn't then normally have to travel beyond Stradishall Cross Roads before returning to Haverhill for this bus to do the next 944 run (through to Bury St Edmunds) at 1545 with a Haverhill based driver. The usual vehicle on the duty was G619 OTV, an Alexander RV bodied Volvo B10M-50 Citybus which was new in 1990 to Trent of Derby (Number 619) . The last passenger had got off at the Rose and Crown in Hundon on this late summer afternoon so I thought a picture was in order. Most drivers just put ‘SCHOOL CONTRACT’ (which it isn’t totally) on the destination blind but since Chevington isn’t on the blind I liked to put ‘WICKHAMBROOK’ up. There was another good reason for this. The first time I did the run there was a young chap who, on the spur of the moment after he had read the timetable wrongly expecting a 1415 (non schooldays run) to Bury, decided the best option was to take my bus to Chedburgh and hitch-hike from there. I had to take him through and for free because the ticket machine was faulty – and then I was late back at Haverhill!