1973: LIVERPOOL's Community Transport Scheme | Nationwide | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

Bernard Falk returns to his native Merseyside, where local residents from the Scotland Road area of Liverpool have set up a community transport scheme. Originally conceived 2 years ago, the group saved two old Liverpool buses and repaired them, enabling local children to go on free day trips to the beach and get a break from their urban surroundings.
Since then the scheme and the fleet of vehicles has expanded to include several coaches, buses and vans - all obtained either free of charge or for their scrap value - and repaired and maintained by volunteer mechanics from the community. Now LCT vehicles are used to help people move house, and to take older residents and young families on retreats and holidays to the countryside. There is even talk that the LCT might invest in some old passenger boats.
Originally broadcast 25 September, 1973.
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[@carlwilson6631]

I was 9 years old when this film was made. I lived in Netherton before moving to the”Four Squares” off Soho street. I can certainly relate to the images shown, any one of those kids could have been me, my mates, my brothers or my sisters. It was like that everywhere close to the city centre. I’ll never forget growing up in Liverpool in the 70’s. I have some vivid memories both good and bad. People often talk about the good old days, but proud as I am to be a scouser raised in that era I for one have no desire to return to it. I never knew about the LTC but I just looked it up and I’m really happy to say that they are still going and doing a pretty similar job! Coming from a poor one parent family, one of my brothers and myself were sent to Colomendy near Mold in North Wales for a free holiday. I remember most of our teachers from school came along too. That was probably my first experience of nature from outside of urban Liverpool. I have some fond memories of that too. Nowadays I live and work in Burlington just outside of Toronto Canada, but Liverpool is in my blood, warts and all!

[@sandraford4235]

I wondered if it was still going ,I hadn’t heard of it either ,

[@carlwilson6631]

Yeah I Googled it and their website came right up. It’s awesome to know that they’re still going and looks like they still do pretty much the same thing and more. I tried to find out what happened to Bill Murphy but I drew something of a blank. Incidentally, I showed the video to my Canadian wife to give her an idea of my upbringing, she immediately fell in love with Bill after what he said about the kids in his interview :).

[@jazztheglass6139]

I was 7 when this came out, I grew up in dingle. 1973 the year of my first trip to colamendy. First time I saw a cow. I've got great memories of my childhood in Liverpool. People were poor, but very resilient and part of a close community. The old time socialists in Liverpool weren't bad. They're a disgrace these days

[@misspurrr-fect3684]

Carl Wilson ... Here’s a blast from your past . kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZy4kGWdeKZngpI Used to do this walk down Soho street most Saturdays in 70s/80s from TJ Hughes , London road to Great Homer Street Market. All demolished now , except the Richmond Pub ( now flats ) , the Yard next-door & a couple buildings facing the yard on Soho Street. ❤️ Huyton .

[@Springamatul]

It would be nice if this free service today would be offered to people who are worse off. Especially in this day and age.

[@johnq4951]

The health and safety Nazis would never allow it. they'd drown them in red tape

[@Ology3121]

I was 7 in 73 growing up in a pub on Prescott Street not far from Scotty road. Liverpool was still a bomb site. We had prefabs around the pub from the war and had a bonfire every night on the waste ground. I never saw us as poverty kids. Just little scallies doing no harm and having the city centre as our play ground. In around 1975/76 BBC North West filmed me dancing around a bonfire for bommy night. I've never found the footage. If BBC archives reads messages see if you can find that broadcast. You'll know me in the video. I was wearing a duffle coat with a 6 million dollar man tshirt beneath it. It was shown in tv the following night.🤞

[@JohnnyBlaze5100]

We Americans don’t really know what “scallies” mean lol, but I understand the meaning.

[@Danuk1996]

@@JohnnyBlaze5100 it’s means thugs idk what the American term is

[@noteverton]

I was 15 then, growing up on Melwood Drive.

[@greenbunnyinabongo7299]

I hope you manage to find your clip buddy

[@NoosaHeads]

​@OMERTA it doesn't mean thug. It's short for "scalliwag" ie, rascal..

[@yozza4978]

0:43...that drivers like "help me"

[@ChrisPollitt]

Wonderful!

[@myalfie]

These people back then had qualities some people today will never have.

[@swanvictor887]

half a century on...what happened? how long did the scheme survive? How long did they nurse those old buses....? Are those scallies still alive....

[@garytoner4563]

The scheme still exists

[@TheHarrip]

Where did this idea disappear to? Could you even do such a thing nowadays?

[@IAmSoMuchBetterThanYou]

Is that Bernard Falk doing the voiceover?

[@Osman-mj5rf]

We also had the community unity in L8. I tell my grandkids I use to play with bricks on the olla. 😂

[@joaquinwilson6668]

This is almost exactly the same way it used to work in the USSR

[@jaymac7203]

Bacchhpacchh

[@detectingadventuresscotlan6177]

00

[@manalive1623]

My United-fan ears caught George Best’s name near the start. Think they were singing “Georgie Best, Superstar, he wears frilly knickers & a lacy bra” 😄

[@GhastlyCretin]

Lmfao 🤣

[@johnmcgahern3946]

Yes, I recall singing that one around that time, I was 8 in '73.

[@BadgerBotherer1]

We used to say, "Georgie Best, superstar, looks like a woman and he wears a bra."

[@johnwilson1549]

I remember that one 😁😂🤣 Better days 👍🇬🇧🙏❤️

[@manalive1623]

@@johnwilson1549 All in good fun 😄

[@oxouk]

I loved the double decker buses. I always used to sit upstairs at the front seat pretending I was driving.

[@BadgerBotherer1]

I still do - and I'm 55!

[@oxouk]

@@BadgerBotherer1 I’m sure I would also if I was around them.

[@hilaryepstein6013]

What a heartwarming (and heartbreaking) film. Thank goodness for people like Mr Murphy and his volunteers, then and now. I hope those children's lives worked out ok.

[@bradford_shaun_murray]

cheers 6:17🍺

[@randomtux1234]

@@bradford_shaun_murray heartwarming even in 2023 came to mind, just before reading your 'heartwarming' comment too

[@DasTubemeister]

I was growing up in a children’s home in Scotland in 1973. I remember many bus trips like this, singing, “ Ye canna shove yer granny off the bus”, and “Stop the bus, I need a wee wee” Happy days.

[@jaymac7203]

😭 lol 😂

[@Ian-gw2vx]

There is a great Willy Russel play called "Our Day Out" made in 1977 which was probably inspired by this film. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3ScZXyFqbl9qMU

[@ste2442]

Thought that straight away meself mate

[@linny6466]

Yes, that’s a nice film. I was also thinking about it.

[@MayaJagger]

He worked in a school for a little while which was meant to have inspired the film, so I’ve read. However there’s no way he won’t have known about LCT, even if he never saw this serial he strikes me as a man who was embedded into his community. It’s too uncanny

[@1969Kismet]

Would you Adam & Eve it! Liverpool Community Transport still exists! They have a website and still go with the same idea: transport for everyone, every day. Fancy that!

[@stephaniehayden7630]

I was born down the road two months before this package originally went out but I can just about remember Scotland Road as a very young child in the late 1970s. The deprivation was real but there was a character to that area that simply vanished by the early 1990s. Liverpool was full of similar estates, Gerard Gardens in the City Centre comes to mind. Not much money, but a community spirit that is not replicated in 21st century UK.

[@jackchapman5451]

Community spirit murdered by Mrs Thatcher in the 80s

[@chillired5389]

Wow, an absolutely brand new Merseyside PTE Walter Alexander-bodied Leyland Atlantean 1384 (DKC384L) at 10:18😍😍 She was new in March 1973, so the film must’ve been just after The government brought in the New Bus Grant Scheme, so the PTE’s could get rid of the backloaders and the Merseyside PTE managed it by 1977 Interesting for me to see how my favourite kind of bus came in to replace the backloaders from 1972 and I think a valid point was made in how the old buses could’ve been saved more to help the communities rather than just being sent to the scrap yard as they were replaced by the Atlanteans and other rear engine buses

[@bencoatesworth7731]

Sadly we never see or hear of anything like this anymore

[@NoosaHeads]

It sounds like nothing but £3 in 1973 was the price of a nice dinner for two at a good restaurant. I reckon you can multiply 1973 prices by at least 20 to get a 2023 equivalent - ie £60. Whilst this for a week's trip is still cheap, it would have been still an amount to save up for, over a period of time. I wonder if the service is still operating?

[@liamkatt6434]

Yes in 1973 that would have bought you over fifteen pints of lager,. Today's price 60 pound in the cheap areas. Correct.

[@jimdavis6448]

£3 was 2hrs day work at Vauxhall (Production worker )in 1973

[@zulfiqarali9808]

Hilarious Such people and ideas make communities proud and happy

[@NoosaHeads]

There is no way on God's earth that Bill Murphy was a Irishman brought up in Liverpool. That accent is from east of Northampton or thereabouts.

[@Ology3121]

Deffo

[@petermurphy8580]

My mum giving out the chips

[@sandraford4235]

I’m from the Dingle not far from the town center,We never had much money but we went to Formby ,Ainsdale etc often on the train,My Gran had a marquee which we used to pick up from this old mans garden shed in either Gronant or Talacre I forget which ,She paid him a few pence to store it till the next time,Aunties and cousins we would all go pitch the tent and stay all day ,Us kids would go off on adventures while our Mums put the kettle on the primus stove,we had great days out ,Then the tent would be pulled down ,folded and dropped off in the old man’s shed till next time ,

[@paulmatthews5470]

I’m getting Our Day Out vibes

[@bongeyedbill9355]

Folk back then had nothing. Salt of the earth people as they say. But, they all knew each other and looked out for each other!! What the fk has happened to us???

[@JohnnyBlaze5100]

Quite lovely ❤

[@1BCamden]

Still going 2023, wow very impressive

[@calmac938]

Once lovely fact is this charity still exists. That makes me feel alot better about today.

[@jaymac7203]

The council allowing the busses to stay rent free in those buildings would definitely be a huge help with the budget! Wow.

[@MayaJagger]

I wonder if Willy Russell ever saw this. Straight out of Our Day Out

[@lizaluk]

Grateful to all the relevant for this vedio

[@Luna.3.3.3]

What a brilliant, Smart_ idea! I'm from across the pond, but I highly doubt this still exists. What a shame. Mr. Murphy had it exactly right about raising a 'whole child'. If this were still around, maybe there'd be less gangs and crime.

[@davesmatedave]

Wonder if Georgie Best was wearing his frilly knickers under his footie shorts?!

[@flyby2300]

The image-contrast & -brightness of digitised programme is very low. Contrast & brightness could have certainly be adjusted before uploading it to Y/tube, could it not?

[@audreysimon696]

Those we’re happy days I was 17 at this time if anyone remembers we call the coaches Charabangs and marbles Olies sorry for the spelling errors can anyone else think of anything like this long ago for me I forgetting lately am 68 years old and the over head railway xx

[@simonlunt353]

I wonder if LTC is still running for these good people 😊

[@EVERSMAN42]

I think it is, just looked it up

[@ctcurry1777]

The 70s was such a definitive decade for modern life.

[@lockethomas7165]

The people of Dorset were petrified when the NCT bought the thieves down to roam.

[@matthewmiller8048]

Our day out. wonderful play

[@onlypendants]

Looking at these kids ( i was about 4 myself in 73 ) i realize what a childhood we had. We had 'real' friends, real toys, real nature. Today's kids sadly have none of it. Thank God i was born then & not today 🙏🏼🙂

[@arilebon]

Each generation thinks the same of the other. The pattern continues.

[@christopherwinrow3878]

Are day out

[@willowbrooke1215]

GenXers were a tough lot. Had no choice

[@unnamedchannel1237]

I think every generation had/has their challenges . All different but all equally as hard as each other .

[@johnq4951]

@@ctcurry1777he's talking about the kids. this was 1973. Most of the kids are

[@Mick_Ts_Chick]

​@@ctcurry1777 Baby boom gen was 46-64. Some of these older kids were tail end boomers like me (63).

[@farhanatoerien3437]

We need this in SA

[@parvezahmedjalil7310]

Nothing like this can happen in 2022 UK

[@jaybee2402]

That bird at 07:43 is yummmm...sod Dorset, I'd take her to Waikiki on a whim ❤️❤️❤️

[@Evemeister12]

She'll be nearly 80 years old now

[@FenceThis]

@@Evemeister12 early to mid 70’s

[@jaybee2402]

@@Evemeister12 and I was the grand old age of 5 back then, a little too young I'm sure you agree, hence the conditional "I'd"...

[@donner101]

For the people of Liverpool it was a dream to go to Dorset, for the people of Dorset it was a nightmare to go to Liverpool.

[@gavindouglas3196]

And no Drugs or knives anywhere bring back my once Great Britain

[@richiewilliams6875]

Spot on and my city lpool what is going on a city run by so called and wannabe gangsters Argh I used to live in black stone street late 70s

[@MrLiverpoolfilms09]

Doe anyone know if Eddie Cartwright was involved in this, as i know he was a social worker in that area at that time, let me know.

[@herbz2hot2]

woman at 7:44 fit the man at 9:30 has a foot print on his head loooooool

[@Danuk1996]

I live in Scottie road

[@jimbo50]

Was you born there? Or are you a tourist.

[@Danuk1996]

Yes all my life

[@FenceThis]

@@Danuk1996 ah, but were your grand parents born there or are you a tourist ?

[@Danuk1996]

@@FenceThis yes from there

[@FenceThis]

@@Danuk1996 ;-)

[@grahamross6397]

The red squirrels still there at Formby? That lad presenting (not narrating) is driving the "Liverpudlian" accent to the limits. Puts McCartney to shame. Those families that never went on holiday never attended Welly Road Mission. Legendary coach trips back in the day.

[@BadgerBotherer1]

Red Squirrels at Formby were decimated for a time by the squirrel-pox brought in by the invading Greys, but I think they are making a comeback now.

[@captur69]

When England was England...now its a multi cultural jungle...

[@tomwilson5108]

most people in this film were irish immigrants so no.

[@andrewdaley3081]

Unfortunately today you would have that many health and safety laws this would not be possible. 🇬🇧👍

[@Ian-gw2vx]

Today, all the kids would be on their phones all the way there, at the location and all the way back.

[@theculturedthug6609]

@@Ian-gw2vx You can can a train just around the corner from scotty Road to Fromby and Southport.

[@unnamedchannel1237]

@@Ian-gw2vx not exactly the kids fault . The parents are partly to blame. Easier to sit them in front of a screen than be a decent parent and they take that behaviour into the school

[@yamiwarai1737]

@@Ian-gw2vx - typed from a phone

[@Ian-gw2vx]

@@yamiwarai1737 A desktop pc actually! 😀

[@michaeldowd8422]

God help the sweet shop owners of Formby that day.

[@Fludded]

Just looked up this charities accounts. Of the £700k donations raised in 2021, £450k went to paying staff wages.

[@lindakeyes9353]

Sadly that's how it usually ends.

[@Mr_Spliffy]

Just morally wrong

[@anonUK]

@@lindakeyes9353 Far too much of that goes to a few at the very top. You'll find the head of a charity that size is usually on £100K or so. That's not why people donated.

[@lindakeyes9353]

@@anonUK Yes.

[@Blackcrow2077]

Charity's are created for this very purpose

[@martinmanifold2241]

I was one of 7 and my dad always had the time to take us to crosby or formby . Some parents just fail their children no matter what the decade. It still goes on today ...prioritise all the wrong things

[@martinmanifold2241]

@@jpross68survival and life decides what is nessesary ...

[@noteverton]

I was one of six. There was no money for holidays.

[@martinmanifold2241]

@@noteverton yep ..days out was as good as it got..

[@angusmeigh5141]

There was such a lot of poverty way back in the 1970s! The kids of today don't know what real hardship is!

[@sausagepocket]

Inner city Liverpool, looks exactly the same, even today 🤣

[@noongourfain]

True...for a child a living hell....adults too!