A Preston ex-pat has set up a group online for those who remember the P5 bus route.

Richard Crookes, originally from Penwortham, wants to discover more about the “legendary” service run by Preston Bus.

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The bus service, which apparently appears in the Alan Bates film A Kind of Loving, no longer operates.

Scene from A Kind of Loving, apparently shot on the lower deck of a P5 bus

Mr Crookes said he was inspired to start the Facebook group in memory of the P5 after a discussion with old school friends.

He said: “A few years ago my friend Alex Vokes said ‘do you remember the P5 that legendary bus?’.

“The remark stuck in my mind and I agreed with him, so I set up this group to see who else remembers it.”

Mr Crookes, who now lives in Chiang Rai, Thailand, hopes the group will answer his query of whether the original bus spoted a purple livery and also bring out more photos of the bus in service.

One of Mr Crookes favourite memories is gliding through Penwortham and up to town.

He said: “From my earliest days I remember gliding along through Penwortham and up into town – usually trying to roll my ticket into the tightest possible tube and then eating it, although I was eventually deterred from this habit by a disgruntled inspector who alighted at the Broadgate fare stage and caught me ‘mid lunch’ so to speak.”

Mr Crookes hopes all those interested will join the Facebook group, or post their memories in the comments under this blog post.

He also volunteered the poem below from his friend Alex Vokes:

O P5 mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true engine’s coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in passengers meeting,
… Every wise man’s son doth know.
What is a P5? ‘Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies not plenty;
Then, come collect me, sweet P5,
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.

If you have any memories of the P5 please post them in the comments below and join the Facebook group.