BBC NEWS | England | London | Routemaster makes final journey

There was nothing quite the same as travelling on the top deck of the number 12 routemaster to Peckham.

The experience was even more surreal late on Saturday nights. I remember one such evening, getting the bus home at around 11pm from the west end. As usual, the top deck - in fact, the whole bus - was packed.

Now on the routemasters, the golden rule was that only the conductor could ring the bell to tell the driver to stop the bus. Us mere passengers were only to tug on the cable.

Some drunken revellers decided it was easier to simply ring the bell for the conductor when she was downstairs. So you can imagine the scene when the conductor came upstairs - shouting to all passengers within earshot: "if one more #@*£ing person rings that #@*£ing bell, you can all #@*£ing walk".

She then went back downstairs, leaving 40 or so passengers cowering in their seats.

Only on a routemaster, and only in south London.