EVOKING a period when wearing a uniform – whether a conductress, a waitress or a store assistant – implied a certain status, these two young ladies have neatly arranged their caps so as to display the word Premier at the front.

They were employed by Premier Transport (Keighley) Ltd, founded in 1919 by motor engineers Hillary and Hey Ltd, who operated haulage and charabanc companies in both Keighley and Silsden.

But earlier vehicles were not always reliable.

When the Knowle Park Congregational Mission choir booked two Premier charabancs for a trip to Windermere in 1920, “instead of the expected charabancs arriving for the start at 6am, a message arrived to say that on the previous day four of the company’s vehicles had broken down and that no other charabancs were available to convey the party”.

As the choir minute-book put it, they had to “make the most of a bad job” by catching a train to Morecambe instead!

Premier was taken over in 1928 by the West Yorkshire Road Car Company Ltd, when its garage in Anvil Street provided the base for the present-day Keighley bus garages.

The photograph has been supplied by Kevin Seaton, of Shann Lane, Keighley.