AS THE conductor rang the bell, the people of Hampshire were transported back to a different age for one last time.

The last of the New Year’s Day Winchester buses running service was an unseasonably wet one, but it didn’t keep the spirits down of drivers, conductors and passengers alike.

Heritage buses and coaches dating as far back as the 1950s transported people right across the county to as far north as Sutton Scotney and as far south as Chandler’s Ford on the last new year’s free service of its kind.

The friends of King Alfred buses donned caps with specialist pins wearing traditional nylon green uniforms, none looking quite so formal as the membership secretary, Stuart Neale, who has served on the buses as a conductor for eight years.

He said: “The running day is well known in Winchester, but popularity is spreading because we get other buses coming from other parts of the UK.

“This is the last New Year’s day service we’ll be running mainly due to the loss of the bus station.”