Colour bar on the buses

19 February 2025 marks the 70^th anniversary of a defining moment in the history of the “colour bar” in the Black Country. The colour bar was simply the refusal of services or employment to people who were not white, and was completely legal until the Race Relations Act 1965 made it illegal in some settings. Across the Black Country, it was common for people of African, Caribbean and South Asian origin to be barred from pubs, clubs, hairdressers, shops, and employment opportunities. In 1955, West Bromwich Corporation Transport (WBCT) employed an Indian man as a bus conductor and all but one of their drivers went on strike in protest. The unofficial strike was widely condemned and ended quickly, though the colour bar remained in other settings for many years to come. 

To mark the anniversary of the strike, BCLM researcher Simon has delved into the complex history of the protest, its challenges, and its lasting legacy. With West Bromwich buses on site at the Museum and a colleague’s personal connection to the strike through their grandfather, this research highlights our ongoing commitment to representing diverse and inclusive stories.

Public transport providers faced a major labour shortage in the 1950s. The Midland Red had overseas recruitment centres and employed 30 Black or South Asian workers by 1955, and Wolverhampton Corporation employed 68. Working on the buses became less popular after the Second World War. Wages rose in industry, enticing transport workers away and leaving bus operators short-staffed. At WBCT, a bus crew member was paid just £7 for a 44-hour week – a sum he could double in a foundry or engineering works, so overtime was jealously guarded to provide a living wage. As a result, bus services struggled – councillors told residents in 1955 that up to 14 buses were regularly stuck at the depot for lack of drivers.

The solution to this labour shortage was to recruit amongst those moving to the Black Country from overseas. At first, most were based in garages only. This changed for West Bromwich Corporation Transport Department in February 1955 when they employed Bhikhabhai Khushalbhai (“Bhika”) Patel as their first non-white conductor. Bhikha Patel was born in Gujarat, India, in 1929, and was an experienced conductor – he had worked on Bombay’s extensive tram system. He moved to England in 1953 and worked in industry and for British Rail before joining relatives in West Bromwich. He began training at the Oak Lane depot on 10 February.

How the strike started

Within a week, however, all 450 bus drivers and conductors agreed to go on strike every Saturday until Patel was dismissed. All the crew – including Patel – were members of the Transport & General Workers Union (TGWU), but the strike was not sanctioned by the union. Instead, district secretary Harry Green and depot chairman Stanley Birch took the drivers and conductors on an unofficial, unsanctioned stoppage. Drivers in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Walsall also agreed to turn back at the boundaries of West Bromwich, and not cross the picket (though Wolverhampton and Walsall backed down before any strike action was taken); Midland Red drivers did not get involved at all.

The striking drivers vehemently denied that they were operating a colour bar, claiming that it was an overtime dispute. However, it was widely condemned as a colour bar and strikers argued that “if one coloured man was allowed to work a flood of them would follow,” and Harry Green told journalists “West Bromwich is as good a place as any to stop the flood of coloured workers.”

The busmen went on strike on Saturday 19 February, bringing West Bromwich to a standstill. Drivers and conductors picketed the depot at Oak Lane and the borough boundaries, asking drivers not to cross the border. Trade Unions were a central part of everyday life in the 1950s. They achieved a huge amount of benefit for the working class, from better wages to improved working conditions. Many employers found that strong unions improved productivity and staff wellbeing, and at workplaces like WBCT almost everyone was a member. They looked out for one another and if one member was mistreated, it was common for colleagues to come out on strike in support.

The voices of solidarity – pushing back against the strike

Although Bhika Patel was a TGWU member like his colleagues, he did not experience this solidarity. He did his best to stay out of the limelight, telling reporters “I have no wish to cause any trouble and I am keeping clear of the dispute.” But others quickly stepped forward to condemn the drivers. Alderman George Jones, chair of West Bromwich’s transport committee, said “we certainly shall not sack Mr Patel, and we shall employ whom we think fit. We shall not back down.” West Bromwich Trades Council denounced the strike as victimisation and threatened to expel the depot branch from their organisation. The Bishops of Birmingham and Lichfield weighed in too: “Believing that all men are the children of God no matter what the colour of their skins, we must state plainly that efforts to enforce a colour bar are not reconcilable with Christianity.” And politicians of all stripes condemned the strike. Conservative councillors in Birmingham repudiated the strike, a Labour MP described it as “a disgrace to the trade union movement,” local Communists protested at the picket line, and the Liberals described it as “dangerous nonsense.” Representatives of West Midlands’ small Indian community also condemned the strike, including Dr Dhani Prem (later Birmingham’s first South Asian councillor) and Dr V.S. Majmuder, president of the Birmingham Indian Association.

Most importantly, bus drivers and conductors pushed back at the colour bar. George Dennis drove the first bus through to Dudley on Saturday 25 February, the second day of the strike. He told reporters “I do not agree with a colour bar. That is what the strike amounts to, although now it is said it is over wages… I am not frightened of the strikers.” William Plant, the corporation’s “oldest hand,” drove the first bus to Wednesbury. They were followed by Harold Williams, Arthur Orton and Ernest Cleaton, who left the pickets to come back to work. They faced jeers and catcalls from their colleagues, as well as abuse from Birmingham Nationalist Club, who toured West Bromwich with a loudspeaker campaigning to “keep coloured labour out of Britain.” This far-right group was led by Britain’s most prominent neo-Nazi Colin Jordan.

Ending the strike

The striking bus crews agreed to call the action off after the second strike, with the overwhelming weight of public opinion against them. Bhika Patel prepared to make his first trip on Tuesday 4 February. As soon as he boarded the bus at Dartmouth Square, however, the driver got out and refused to carry him. Nobody was quite sure why in this case: the union later claimed this was a misunderstanding, and the driver apologised to Patel. Patel took his first shift on Wednesday 5 March, on the 74 bus from Birmingham to Dudley at Carters Green, accompanied by a supervisor. “I hope that the crews will make friends with me now,” he said, “I’m very glad it’s all over.” Patel’s optimism was soon tested, as the branch secretary Benjamin Deeley declared later that week that “if I am forced to go out with Patel I shall quit the union as well as my job… The men have never renounced their colour bar.” Deeley was wrong though: his colleagues voted not to continue the strike by a substantial majority. Patel himself was honoured with an invitation to meet the Indian High Commissioner in 1956.

Many of the strikers may have been convinced that this was a legitimate protest to protect their overtime hours. In practice though, their action was targeted explicitly against non-white workers – even those within their own trade union – and as some of the strikers’ comments show, was strongly motivated by racial prejudice. The shortage of bus crew was obvious to all, and no protests were made when white workers were employed, so it was clear that Black and South Asian workers were not considered fellow workers or comrades. West Bromwich’s bus strike was ended by a combined and concerted rejection of racism by politicians, local leaders and ordinary workers like George Dennis, bravely standing up to prejudice – it showed that while racism was widespread in the 1950s, its impact and legacy could be lessened by swift, firm rebuttal. This was not the end of the colour bar in the Black Country, however. Later in the year, a similar dispute arose in Wolverhampton, and colour bars would become a key flashpoint in the following years, as anti-racist activists pushed back against this discrimination. The fight went on, and still does, against the long-lasting legacy of racism in British society.

Find out more

Further reading

• Dhani Prem, The Parliamentary Leper: A History of Colour Prejudice in Britain (Metric Publications, 1965).
• Simon Briercliffe, Forging Ahead: Austerity to Prosperity in the Black Country (History West Midlands, 2021).
• Tribute to Bhikhabhai Khushalbhai Patel.

Get in touch

If you would like to share your memories, please get in touch:  

• Tel: 0121 557 9643  
• Email: collections@bclm.com   
• Address: Collections Team, Black Country Living Museum, Tipton Road, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 4SQ