On 04/07/2014 11:28, Peter Masson wrote:


"Peter Able" wrote

I guess that things are different nowadays, Michael but, as an LT Bus
Conductor, I was only too pleased to be offered notes. Right from the
start of the shift I used spare moments to build up bags of £1 loose
coinage. This was in pre-decimal days, so that could be a lot of
coins in both number and weight. If a passenger offered me a one
pound note (present value about £14) I was only too happy to take the
note, extract his thruppence - or whatever the fare was - from one of
these cash bags, then drop the remainder into his/her hands. It made
cashing up at the end of the shift much faster.

No doubt that made you popular with the passenger, who was hoping that
his change would be a ten bob note, three half-crowns, a two-bob coin,
and a threepenny bit, rather than 79 threepenny bits.

Peter

Oh, the bags were strictly for copper, Peter - and they were what I
wanted to get rid of - so no half-dollars, no two-bobs, no bobs, not
even tanners! It was more likely to be two dozen thruppenny bits and
165 pennies!

Incidentally, consummate gentleman that I was, what I dropped into their
hands was the bag and contents - not just the contents. I guess that
those bags might now have value as London Transport ephemera!

Pre-decimal day they were just taken aback. After d-day the reaction
was slightly rougher - but OK!

As you may remember, a lot of the older pennies were worn remarkably
thin, and I remember cash-bags being rejected at the end of shift
because they didn't appear to weigh what 240 old pennies should.

All part of the game. ;-}}

PA


PA