Ruel Moseley ,bus conductor. One of the recruits on London Transport’s scheme was Ruel Moseley from Barbados .
Ruel Moseley ,bus conductor. One of the recruits on London Transport’s scheme was Ruel Moseley from Barbados .
In Barbados , Ruel worked as an apprentice to a tailor and then as a conductor on the local buses, before successfully applying to work for London Transport at the age of 25.
In 1959 through the recruitment scheme, Ruel acquired fis first British passport and left Barbados on a ship that took four weeks to reach England. Later in the 1960’s recruits were often booked on flights to London, so their journey was much quicker .
Training for new starters began immediately on arrival. Although Ruel had some previous transport experience in Barbados, it was in a small town and on country runs, often on poorly maintained roads. This made the transfer to the hustle and bustle of London and its traffic difficult .
One of Ruel’s colleagues at London Transport recalled having just a weeks training in the classroom, followed by a week on the road , to get used to the unfamiliar system and a new currency.
Ruel worked as a conductor first on the trolleybuses , and later on buses at Hanwell garage in west London.
Like many of his colleagues, Ruel originally planned to stay in London for about five years before returning to Barbados. But a combination of factors, including raising a family, led him to stay and work for London Transport until he retired in the 1990’s.
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