Bus driver chalks up 40 years of service
FAMILY JOINED IN FOR LAST TRIP
WHEN Mohammed Sarfraz arrived in Huddersfield in 1968, Harold Wilson was Prime Minister and trolleybuses had only just made their final journey in town.
He remembers it being cold and not at all like the big city of Faisalabad in Pakistan where he and his parents had come from.
He was a shy lad but determined to make his mark in this strange new place.
Fast forward to 2018 Mr Sarfraz can look back with a sense of pride after completing 40 years on the buses in Huddersfield and having five children who all went on to get professional jobs.
Mr Sarfraz, who has just retired, said: “I have just completed 40 years, five months and 18 days on the buses. I started in August 1978 when I was 19 as a conductor which I did for 18 months before becoming a driver.
“I have really enjoyed interacting with the public and working with colleagues who have been really supportive and cheerful.
“I want to thank my mother and wife because behind every success there’s always a woman. If my mother was alive she would have been proud of me.”
Mr Sarfraz, who lives in the Mount area with his wife Shameen, was given a special surprise on his final bus trip on December 20 when his five children and eight grandchildren hopped on his bus, the 363 service from Huddersfield to Bradford.
A photo from the bus trip, taken of Mr Sarfraz and his son Naeem, has been ‘liked’ 41,000 times on Twitter after Naeem said: “I share this because #Immigration Matters. This son-of-a-village teacher had five kids: One software engineer, two doctors, one optician, one dentist.”
Now 59, Mr Sarfraz has many fond memories of four decades on the buses, not least the kindness of the many colleagues at the First bus company.
His favourite route took him along Lockwood Road through Berry Brow and up the Holme Valley to Holme.
Although it’s a scenic route, it’s a long one and that meant that some tipsy passengers fell asleep and missed their stops.
“I would try to wake them up but there was no chance so I had to take them back to the depot. I’ve taken quite a number of people back to the depot where staff had to wake them and tell them where they were.
“The Holme Valley service was the worst for this as it’s a long route.”
One of the downsides to driving a bus has been the changing attitudes of some drivers, he says.
“In the old days it was really easy,” he recalls. “Drivers would give way to buses but they don’t now.”
Mr Sarfraz’s daughter Fatima told of her pride in her dad’s achievements and “40 years of hard grafting”.
She added: “My mum recalls bitter cold wintry nights when they would have to get up at the crack of dawn to drop dad off at the depot which was in town.
“We remember our dad working extremely hard, being punctual, well-dressed and only taking days off if he was extremely ill which was hardly ever.”