Bristol Bus Boycott

Bristol

In 1963 18-year-old Guy Reid-Bailey had an interview at the Bristol Omnibus Company. However, the manager refused to interview him, saying ‘We don't employ Black people’. In response, Paul Stephenson, along with others, led a boycott of Bristol buses from the end of April 1963. In August 1963 the Bristol Omnibus Company agreed to end the ‘colour bar’. In September 1963 they hired Raghbir Singh as Bristol’s first non-white bus conductor, and he was soon joined by four other conductors: Norman Samuel and Norris Edwards from Jamaica and Mohammed Raschid and Abbas Ali from Pakistan.