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Dragon on the Web interdum

Well those a fairly boring photos above aren't they? Yes , but the pictures above were to occupy most of the next 20 odd years.

The photos are of the desk in the bus depot and the desk in the office in town that I worked in for the rest of my career with Cardiff Bus. After the accident with the bridge I was sent out checking tickets etc for a while. I had already before that trained to become a relief depot inspector by just simply asking if I could try it out. It had turned out that I had an affinity with this job. Not really surprising because my father had done this job for many years.

But the depot inspector and its associated job the Allocations inspector in town was a busy demanding complicated job.

There were very few that wanted to do it because for one thing many of the shifts started at 3.30 am before the first drivers came in at 4.00 am. Very few wanted that as part of there regular life but for me the getting home early made up for that and I enjoyed the job from the off.

And then in 1989 one of the depot inspectors decided to retire. Although the job was put up to all,  I was put in as a relief and then given the job full time later on. Perhaps they wanted me off the road where I could cause no more damage!

Of course back then we did not have the computers that you see above. Although the photo on the left of the depot counter is just as it was except for the computer. No it was all done by hand on paper. And oh boy was there a lot of paper! Over 200 drivers would sign on between 4.00 am and 8.00 am in the depot alone and then about another 150 in town between 8.00 am and 16.30. Every one had to have a place to sign on and those sheets were done by hand. At that time there was a shift in the depot that worked from 12.30 to 20.00 and that person made out all the sign on sheets for the next week as well as all the other paper work that needed doing.

As I have said it then became a busy full job and I was enjoying it thoroughly. Due to illness among the small group that I worked with and then staff shortage the days became longer and I was working flat out.

In the nineties we had the buses to organize for the garden festival in Ebbw Vale about 25 miles away. This was a massive contract and we had 12 drivers all week and 25 on Saturday and Sunday to find and that was in the middle of Summer when we were short staffed anyway due to holidays. That was a VERY busy year and it went on for six months.

And then came computers. By this time even Cardiff Bus was starting to come into the modern world and had an email address! Yes a real email address.

Lets not forget that this was in the late nineties and not all firms had one nor did they have a web presence. They had started to use computers in some parts of the company and I had bought my first one at home and decided that we needed one for certain tasks in the depot.

So I asked and was told no I did not need one. Of course that did not satisfy me so I continued to badger them until eventually they got fed up and put one in there. Of course it was a ratty old thing but along with a printer I started to work with it and automate some of the tasks that we did.

We then had an email address assigned and I could email some of the paper work to town instead of sending it up. Eventually of course most of the offices in the company were given computers and it all became normal. I say normal but  there were some like myself that enjoyed them from the start and others that just could not get on with them. Over the years they became more powerful and of course became the norm.

And then the full time move to the computerisation of the office began in the mid 2000’s.  A new computer system was brought in and new people came in to get the system going. It was called the Grampian system and would change the way I worked completely.

All the paper that we used to write on would go and of course as it was computerised, more paper would replace it. It was just that this was printed out instead of being written out. This was a massive change and of course some liked it more than others. For me it was a positive move and I was there from the start. Others hated it and others just got on with it. It took a little time and was a very steep learning curve but it was done.

Some from our small group left the company as they just could not get on with the new way of working. The work was still intense and always has been. Nothing had changed there, it was just the way we went about it that was different.

Gradually over the years new staff came in and the system became second nature to work with. And then of course that system became outdated and Grampian 2 came in. That was about two years ago and although I got on well with the system, my time with the company was slowly coming  to an end. My wife had been very ill for years and we had battled through with our son as her full time carer. But that could not go on for ever so this year, 2010, I decided after looking at the money side that I could afford to take early retirement to look after  her.

I finished in March 2010 and to end this I will be always grateful to the friends that I made over the 33 years that I spent with Cardiff Bus. Sadly after a long illness my wife passed way in July of this year. I have decided to return to work, as much for the company as for the money.

I have now taken up a work full time again and am now with National Express. I will put in a page about that soon.

The Depot