Sunderland in 1980, when bus passes were harder to get than Wembley tickets

Operation Bus Pass was under way in Sunderland as the first of 45,000 new concessionary travel passes were issued for pensioners and the disabled 44 years ago.

Two hour wait for some people

It was a massive effort. Sunderland and Washington were two of the four distribution points and the huge operation meant many people having to queue for between one and two hours.

At Washington, the queue at one time contained up to 100 people and snaked its way out of the Information Centre in The Galleries to the top of the stairway.

The switch-over to a new type of bus pass was described as a “massive operation.”

William was first in the queue

The new passes had a photograph of the holder, and the photograph was due to be taken at the time of issue. The first to get the new pass from the Washington centre was William Hall, who arrived at 8am, and received his pass at 10.11am. He said it had been a long wait but it was worth it. Mr Hall added: “It is like a cup final ticket. I arrived early to get a good turn.”

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