Toby Symonds

IF the writers of the Oxford English Dictionary ever wish to illustrate their fine publication, this photograph from The Herald’s archives should definitely be considered for the entry under mobocracy – a noun meaning: ‘rule or domination by the masses’.

What we are witnessing here is the moment a motorist, driving through Glasgow on 16 March 1954, realised they would probably be late home for tea. No, it is a different stew entirely that lies ahead for this fellow.

There is no longer such a place as the Waterloo St Bus Station, a site that was once listed as Central Glasgow’s Depot and housed daily anarchy.

Aside from queuing members of the public during rush hour, buses at the Station also had to navigate in and out of narrow, rectangular-arched bus lanes. Regulation may have instructed bus drivers to make the manoeuvre in a “dead slow” fashion, but the fact that the station inspectorate was required to store a regular supply of spare wing mirrors tells a somewhat different story.

At its peak, nearly 300 buses made their way through Waterloo St. every day, with bus drivers having only the briefest of opportunities for breaks in between journeys. Its apparent popularity was not, however, enough to save the station from closure in February 1971 replaced by a station at Anderston.

Except, that venture fared little better and closed twenty years later. Busses just can’t seem to catch a break in Glasgow.