On the Buses

Olive is in trouble - Arthur has left her for good, and she has to face the divorce court. Mum is happy because this means the family will be together again.

Olive must go out to work because of a financial crisis at the Butler home. The trouble is that Stan has to grovel to Blakey to get Olive a job as a clippie - but Olive turns out to be the best clippie in the depot.

Mum and Olive decide to become mail order agents. But like so many people they do not read the small print in the agreement. They attempt to interest people in the catalogue but the result is that they are left with more and more goods. When the mail order company is on the point of pressing for a settlement Stan and Jack are forced to use desperate measures to keep the bailiffs from the door.

Luxton and District Traction Company are having difficulties in attracting the right sort of recruit to their staff. On top of this the number of passengers using their buses is falling, so the image of the company is to be improved. A public relations company is employed and an all-out effort is needed to improve the smartness of every driver and every conductor, so Jack tries to improve Stan’s image so he can be on the poster and win the prize of £100.

The management decide there should be a depot football team. They have one good player on the staff but the rest of the team must be made up from the drivers and conductors who will be trained by Blakey. But the press-ganging of the staff into the team is only part of the story. Real disaster occurs at the first match against the Basildon Bashers who turn out to be a very different opposition from what the Luxton Lions expected - they’re all female!

There is a celebration at Luxton and District because it is 50 years since they got their first motor bus. Blakey organises an exhibition to re-create the "good old days" before the Unions got hold of the busmen and made his life impossible.

Financial crisis at last cripples the Butler household. Stan knows that building buses in the North can make more money than driving them in Luxton. By lucky coincidence a motor firm advertises for workers in the local paper, and Stan decides to apply.

Inspector Blake has moved into the Butler household as a lodger now that Stan is working in the Midlands. All goes smoothly until the immersion heater blows up.

Blakey has been thrown out of his digs, and the only place he can find to rest his head is in the Butler household. To add to the problems, Mrs Blake (Blakey’s mother) decides to pay a visit.

Luxton depot and the Butler household are thrown into chaos when the stars foretell marital success for Mum and Olive - with who else but Blakey?

A new clippie arrives at the depot - but she is no ordinary woman. A committed feminist, she is determined to emancipate all the girls in the bus company. She chooses the shortage of lavatories at turnaround points as her first campaign.

The bus company decides to put an end to the horrible food in the canteen, and after the cook quits, Blakey must find a replacement. He asks Mrs Butler if she’d like the job and she is introduced to the manager who it turns out she used to know quite well. After mum and Mr Simpson hit it off, Jack, Mum and Olive become friends of the management, so Blakey cannot push them around any more.

Blakey and Jack decide to take up gardening. Both their gardens are totally dilapidated but gradually they build them up to Chelsea Flower Show proportions. The reason for this is because the manager has decided to hold a competition for the best garden.