The papers all printed supplements of the processional route a thousand special trains were arranged to bring sightseers to the capital overnight, thousands of people slept in parks or on the streets. Yet as the big day approached, short-term inconveniences were forgotten. With no buses, London's trams were packed to capacity, while the streets were full of illegally parked cars and the railway stations flooded with commuters. The general secretary of their union, future Labour minister Ernest Bevin, conscious of the nation's patriotic mood as the coronation loomed, urged them to think again, but they walked out anyway. They wanted shorter hours and better conditions, as well an inquiry into the dangers to their health of the new larger buses, which travelled at a dizzying 30mph instead of just 12mph. I n the build-up to the coronation of George VI in May 1937, London's 26,000 busmen went on strike.
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