Vida mat? Sheffield Buses..

[Ousetunes]

in those days 2p was a lot it bought loads of spice ...well 4 black jacks:D and it was the thrill of getting one over the bus driver after all we were only 9 or 10:o

 

I recall new machines being put in place which gave you a dot matrix print-out receipt instead (not a lovely photocopy of your coinage). This is when fares went up from 2p to 5p and then, shock horror, 10p!!

 

I kept one of those receipts and attached it to a page in my 1984 diary on the day we broke up for Christmas. Unfortunately, the print has now totally faded but I bet there are still videmat receipts with the coin imprints still on kicking around in people's shoe boxes and drawers.

[Starmandave]

As a Bus driver at the time I remember the number of times I had to use my pen to clear out the damn machines...always going wrong, but great technology for it's time

[little malc]

I was one of the inspectors who serviced them whilst the bus was in service. The damn things were so heavy we hated them. Most of the snarl-ups which occurred were due to 'foreign' objects which had been dropped in. The first attempt at unjamming was to trigger the flap on top with a pen or similar, failing that, we opened the side door to expose the belt which took the coins to the removable vault to see if we could free the jam. We only swapped the machines over if the jam couldn't be cleared. One of the worst objects I found was a Pontefract cake which had 'gunged' all over the belt, ugh!

I don't miss them or the job!!

[Boginspro]

I drove buses in the 70's and remember these machines as a nuisance. We were forever radioing in for the Videmat van to meet us and fix the things, always a blockage because someone had put something stupid in them. It was quite funny how many people would jump up to get off the bus when an inspector was seen at a stop.

[bigal123456]

hiya, I was a plant fitter at leadmill,bet I know you uncle