MIDNIGHT tonight 20 years ago was a sad occasion for the people around the Trimdons in Country Durham. They saw the demise of the Trimdon Motor Services bus company (TMS), those blue and white buses plying their trade – from Houghton-le-Spring in the north to Stockton/Middlesbrough in the south and most points in between – from their base at Trimdon Grange.

Sure as the sunrise they were – 60 years of reliable service in all and any weather came to an end.

What would we gave for a service of that level today?

TMS was the longest-lived independent bus company in South Durham. The Eighties was its most profitable time on a consistent basis. At the company’s height it ran more than 200 vehicles across its four companies – Teesside Motor Services, Tyneside Omnibus Company, Zebra Holidays and TMS.

The company’s fortunes changed in 1959 when Robert Lewis bought the company (sadly, Mr Lewis died in January of this year at his home in Jersey). In little over a year he had bought 14 new coaches and the company never looked back.

TMS, it’s 20 years now and you are still missed. Will someone in another 20 years time be saying the same of the current operator in South Durham? Somehow, I doubt it.

TW Spresser, Coxhoe, Co Durham.