London Weekend Television's comedy series 'On The Buses', starring Reg Varney and Cicely Courtneidge, each week has in the middle of its studio set a genuine green Bristol Lodekka bus, registration number AEV 811F built at Brislington.

Hired from the Eastern National Bus Company, this vehicle, on its arrival, created something of a problem.

Each week a live studio audience sees the series recorded and during some of the scenes Reg Varney. as the bus driver Stan Butler. has to actually start the engine.

'In the confined studio space, we suddenly realised that 'if we weren't careful we would gas the audience in a way we didn't want to' says Reg.

So the ever-ingenious technicians at London Weekend Television's studios devised a way of boxing-in the bus's exhaust and piping the exhaust fumes straight out of the studios and away from the audience of 250.

The Eastern National Company's chief driving instructor gave Reg Varney a try-out in the cab of AV 811 F and quickly formed the impression that he would be very suitable material for training as a bus driver. During the period of the filming, when the Eastern National fleet name was covered up by the 'Luxton & District' name board, several members of the public actually went into the office and enquired whether the company had been taken over.

At one stage during the filming an Eastern National saloon came into the depot and got in on the act. When the Film Director realised that it was displaying 'Eastern National' he had a 'Luxton & District' slip stuck over the fleet name on the rear and while this solved the immediate problem, all concerned forgot the slip was there and when the vehicle went off down the road with the 'Luxton & District' slip on the back it was chased by a horrified depot inspector, who fortunately caught it up at the traffic lights.

Pictures from London Weekend Television show scenes from 'On the buses' featuring Reg Varney, Cicely Courtneidge. Anna Karen, Stephen Lewis and Bob Grant.