GLASGOW'S Union Street is a main commuter route, with hundreds of buses travelling through it every day.

It was no different in June 1955, as this long line of trams shows, with the No.5 service heading to Holmlea Road, on the South Side, at the front as the crew waited nearby.

But this was no teabreak or ordinary hold-up. In fact, the trams system was halted by a power failure at Pinkston power station that stopped the 'caurs' all over the city and the hold-up extended all the way to Paisley.

Hundreds of people, who got fed up waiting, left the trams and began walking to their intended destination. Some remained on the trams for about half an hour, but then they too decided they had had enough and left.

It didn't help that the country was also in the middle of a rail strike, so these passengers in Union Street could not rush to nearby Central Station and get the train.

In all, it was an hour before the trams were able to resume their journey. So commuter misery is nothing new ... the only difference is the price of a ticket.