I lived in a small community as a child and our primary school was was around 5 miles away. Hardly anyone had a car in the mid 1950's (Dad had a motorbike and side car) and we used to go to school in a taxi. I am not sure what make of car it was but it was likely to have been a Ford Zephyr or similar.
I appreciate many children go to school by Taxi now but, the big difference for us was the fact that eight of us squeezed into the vehicle. It was usually two or three in the front seat next to the driver and the rest in the back. It meant that four kids got to sit down and the others stood in front of them, other than when the car jerked forward and we were thrown backwards. There was no such thing as a seat belt.
I started school in 1956 and in early 1957, on our way home, the taxi skidded in snow and we ran into a wagon coming the other way. The taxi crumpled as did all the kids. I just banged my head on the windscreen but injuries ranged from black eyes to cuts and missing teeth. There were, of course, no phones and, as we were on a back road, no telephone box. It wasn't long before, as we shivered at the side of the blocked road, other cars came along.
If the overcrowding doesn't sound bad enough the next bit will astound. The taxi driver asked the passing motorists, complete strangers, to take us home. So, off we went, in a strange car, with a man we had never met.
I wasn't murdered, as you have no doubt gathered, and I cannot remember being abused on the way home. To my knowledge there was no court case and the damage was probably settled by the insurance Companies. There was no outcry in the press and no claims for compensation.
Was it dangerous? Yes it was. Do I miss the more trusting simpler times? Yes I do.
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