Wigan Album

On second thoughts his first name might have been either Bill or Jack, that's my best guess.

Keith - looks very much like Jack Ashurst, who died a few years ago. Think he served on the Traffic Dept.

Thanks Mick, sorry to hear that, in my experience Jack was a genial man.

Keith/Mick. His name was Jack Ashurst and he was a patrol car driver. As a fellow police officer and friend of my father's. he taught me to drive in the early 60s. The family lived in Newman Ave.

DerekB - I joined in the mid 1970s, and I think he had just retired at that time. I worked with a lot of his former Wigan Borough colleagues.

Keith/Mick. Correction - Jack and his family lived in (what was then) one of the police houses in Norwood Ave (Not Newman Ave) Mick, think Jack would be about retirement age towards the mid-seventies. He was a good man.

I remember Jack from the late fifties, early sixties. I was on a different duty roster. Lawrence Connelly, Jim Smith,& Enos Banks, were the duty motor patrol drivers, when I was on duty. John Knipe was the mechanic. There was also another traffic officer, Eric ? on that roster. It is so long ago, I cannot remember his surname. Another officer, I believe, his sole duty was, the chief constable's driver. His name also eludes me.

Albert - re the Chief Con's driver - are you thinking of Ken Gray?

Mick. That name does ring a bell in my memory, but I just cannot remember,for certain. Thank you.

Albert the chief constable's driver was Ken Gray as previously mentioned. With regards to the other traffic officer called Eric could that have been Eric MAKIN who went on to be Coroner's Officer working with Sgt Tom Green who were in the Coroners Office when I joined the old Wigan Borough Force as a cadet in 1967

Thank you Pete for the info. As I mentioned, it is such a long time ago, and there are some very grey areas, brain wise. I transferred to the Kent Police, in 1964,and retired in May, 1988. Prior to joining the Wigan Police, I was in the R A F police for five years. Thank you once again.

The other traffic officer was Andy Grey not Ken if my menory serves me.John Knipe was also a serving uniformed traffic officer as well as the mechanic. Their inspector’s name was Pat Hyde, and Laurence Connolly (Real gent) always answered to “Lol” lol well before internet slang. I worked at Dawson’s next door to Police garage in Darlington Street as a young lad just left school so I knew them well. Lol Connolly was well chuffed when Wigan force merged with Lancashire because he brought sacks of spuds back when he was on patrol in West Lancs