Meet the man who could be Britain’s oldest bus driver

When Merfyn Williams first climbed aboard a bus in St Helens in April 1966, Harold Wilson was Prime Minister, England were preparing to host the World Cup, and the internet was decades away from being invented.

Sixty years later, Merfyn Williams, known to everyone as Taff is still driving for Arriva Merseyside at the age of 81 and Arriva believes he could be the oldest working bus driver in Britain.

Born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, the origin of his lifelong nickname, Taff moved to St Helens in 1966 after meeting his wife Ann, a local girl, and has never left.

He has spent every one of his 60 years of service at the same St Helens depot, where colleagues celebrated his remarkable milestone this week with a gathering and a cake that, fittingly, was almost as large as the legend himself.

His route to the buses was, characteristically, a family affair.

He said: “My mother-in-law was a bus conductor and she said, ‘why don’t you try the buses?’ and the rest is history.”

Taff started out as a ‘clippy’ (a bus conductor) in the days before enclosed rear platforms.

He said: “There were no back doors on buses then, they were back-loaders, so it was freezing.

“The driver was the only warm person on the bus. I used to wear a really heavy coat in the winter.”

He has driven every route in St Helens over the decades.

Taff said: “I know the town like the back of my hand.

Today, he works three days a week ferrying Arriva staff between the St Helens garage and its smaller depots. It is a role, he admits with a smile, that suits him perfectly. “I get to chat to colleagues and hear all the gossip. Don’t tell anyone, but I love it.”

Six decades on the road have given Taff no shortage of stories. His most memorable moment? A runaway pram. “In the old days, when there were no doors on buses, a woman parked a pram under the stairs of the double-decker I was driving. I turned a corner and the pram flew off the bus! Thankfully the baby wasn’t in it, but it gave me a fright.”

He has watched St Helens, its passengers and the buses themselves change enormously and not always for the better.

He said: “There used to be a lot more buses on the road and I really hope we go back to that again.

“I think passengers have changed since Covid. They can be a bit less friendly towards bus drivers and that’s a shame.”

To the next generation of drivers he offers simple but heartfelt advice: “Don’t rush. Take your time. I know there is a lot of pressure on time nowadays but it’s important to always drive safely. It’s not worth taking a mirror off a bus in a rush.”

Retirement, when it eventually comes, will find Taff with plenty of support around him. He and Ann, 79, have five children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Some of the drivers Taff now works alongside remember him from their own school runs. He said: “I used to drive the buses that took kids to school and many of those kids have their own kids now.”

When pressed on what has kept him going for so long, Taff is reflective. “I’m always thinking about my family. I think I’ve stayed here for as long as I have because I was thinking about my pension and making sure everyone’s looked after.”

He had considered leaving after 40 years but spotted a vacancy for the shuttle driver role on the last day of applications.

He said: “I thought, why not? And I intend to hang on for as long as I can.”

Away from work, Taff and Ann enjoy breaks at their caravan in Prestatyn, walking by the sea, not far from where he was born.

Taff said about his job: “It’s the camaraderie I like. It’s as simple as that.”

Ann, however, is less than sympathetic when he comes home tired. He laughed: “She says to me, ‘You’ve been sitting down all day, how can you be tired?!’

“I’m getting old, I guess.”

Lisa Sloan, sites manager for St Helens, said:

“Taff is an absolute one-off. In six decades, he’s become part of the fabric of St Helens depot. He brings a smile to the face of every colleague he meets and frankly, we’d be lost without him.

“We think Taff could well be the oldest bus driver in Britain, but more importantly, he’s one of the best. We’re really proud of him.”

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