When busmen take a holiday there is only one way to travel – by bus.

And on a visit to north London in 1968 these Maidstone and District personnel sat back to enjoy the ride.

Most would have been familiar to the travelling public as drivers and conductors on all Island routes.

Those were the days when the conductor had to limit the number of passengers because they were “full up inside”.

The promise of “another one will be along shortly” only incurred the wrath of those still waiting.

But sure enough, a second double decker (open top in summer) would arrive in a matter of minutes.

To venture further afield meant travelling by coach and those bound for London were sure of a seat if they boarded at the Bridge Road depot.

Private hire was popular too, and it’s likely that for this trip, just one man – the driver – had to suffer a dry run.

We don’t know the exact location, but photographers Harrison and Laking Ltd of Hampstead were called in to record the visit.

We recognise Brian Cox (wearing bow tie) as a former M and D employee who left the company to take over his own pub/club.

Maybe he arranged the outing to play host to his old mates

Whatever the occasion everyone looks to be enjoying themselves, including the late Ray Middleton and son-in-law Harold Munday (front left) even without a drink in their hands.

We love stories about the old M and D because so many of us were dependent on the service to get from A to B.

Few had cars, and without the convenience of buses we had two choices – bikes or Shanks’ Pony.

Consequently we grew to know conductors and drivers pretty well.

What is so frustrating is the faces in this group are so familiar but we can’t put names to them.

Over to you readers. Perhaps you’ll even know the reason for the away-day and location. Tell us about your memories of Sheppey’s bus crews.