Comments on: John Gillman’s Bus Ticket Collection

By: Anthony Cross

Anthony Cross — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 08:49:23 +0000

Great to see this on line. I am preparing a publication about London’s Gibson ticket machine and was interested to see the coloured edge tickets. Can I have permission to use these please in the publication and credit John Gillman? Kind regards…Anthony Cross

By: Alan Platt.

Alan Platt. — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 11:55:25 +0000

Terrific collection.

One observation if I may regarding different coloured tickets via a Gibson machine.

I was a conductor on the No 14 route, Putney (Oxford Rd.) – Hornsey Rise (Favourite) in the 1970´s and 80´s. Before every journey you were required to check your ticket machine against a way bill to make sure the tickets sold matched the machine, this was mainly for the benefit of any Revenue Inspector that may board your bus so that he could verify that a passenger had a valid ticket.

Anyway, before your shift started you’d refill your machine with a new ticket roll and stock up with a few extras. As my route passed by Harrods it was common to have coloured rolls, usually yellow, orange or pink but on the reverse an advertisement was also printed, this was done by the actual machine itself as the rolls were blank.

Strange thinking back now I never asked how it was done and who paid for the special mechanism that had to be installed to print these unique tickets. I say unique as I never saw any other route tickets with the same design.

By: Frances Bevan

Frances Bevan — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 10:52:54 +0000

In the 1960s I used to sit on a wall by the bus stops on Brixton Road and write down the car number plates. Pleasures were simple then!

By: Dom Andrews

Dom Andrews — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 09:21:06 +0000

Thank you for displaying this great collection. I heard John’s interview with Robert Elms on Radio London and really enjoyed listening to the background to this fascinating exhibit.

“Evocative” is definitely the word that comes to mind as I see these cherished old friends.

By: John Rumsby

John Rumsby — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 11:29:19 +0000

What a wonderful collection. About that time I and my brothers were assiduously ticking off Routemaster bus numbers outside West Ham bus garage. As an inveterate collector of many weird and wonderful things, who luckily made a career out it as a museum curator, I was very impressed with John’s documentation of his collection – just what an archivist likes to see when offered such a collection!

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 12:46:30 +0000

Thank you so much for this wonderful collection of personal ephemera. All I can add is:
“More! More! Please!”.

By: Andy Altmann

Andy Altmann — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 10:41:10 +0000

Wonderful!

By: Hilda Kean

Hilda Kean — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 21:43:51 +0000

Wonderful stuff. Incidentally it wasn’t just boys who would travel around London with red rovers. I used to do this with my female friends aged c.10 without any hysteria from parents, press etc . I look forward to looking at the collection at the Bishopsgate Institute.

By: Clare Ungerson

Clare Ungerson — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 17:27:38 +0000

This brings back memories! I remember being taken by my father on a tram during Last Tram Week and him making a great fuss of the tickets and telling me that I must on no account lose them. They’ve long since gone of course!

I’ve lived in East Kent for decades now and I have a feeling that John’s projected journey to ‘Pratts Bottom ‘ may have actually been to a small village near Canterbury called ‘Pett Bottom’ – which is even more hilarious if you think about it….

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 16:41:49 +0000

mmmh! pie and mash and liquor! Beats all the curries, pizzas and kebabs!