Burnley bus station was thronged with hundreds of people on Saturday. This picture shows queues of people waiting for coaches to Filey and Scarborough. The settlement of the railway work-to-rule came just too late for hundreds of local holidaymakers. Saturday saw one of the quietest starts ever to the Burnley Fair holiday fortnight at the Central railway station. But it was a different story at the bus station where thousands queued for coaches in brilliant sunshine.
Assistant Area Manager for British Rail, Mr R Berwick, said that although bookings were down on previous years, the situation was not as bad as they had feared. One excursion to Blackpool was cancelled in the morning and about 50 passengers had to wait 40 minutes for the next train. The other five specials all ran, taking holidaymakers to the Isle of Man, Caernarvon, Llandudno, Morecambe and Blackpool. “They weren’t particularly heavily laden,” said Mr Berwick “but it wasn’t so bad under the circumstances. Bookings were down on previous years, but this was only to be expected. A lot of people had booked to travel by rail, and then because of the go-slow, had made other arrangements. It hasn’t been a particularly good year, as far as rail travel is concerned.”
Hundreds of coaches left the town during the day taking holidaymakers all over Britain and Europe. Ribble borrowed 138 coaches and buses from other companies, but there were no spare seats on any of them. By ten o’clock, 7000 people had left the bus station. Both Ribble and Central Motors reported bookings well up on previous years and attributed this to the holiday weather as well as the rail situation. Several Continent bound coaches left the town during the day, for such places as Holland, Switzerland, Spain and Italy.