The Bookie's Runner
On the corner of Waltham and Paisley
By Ted Blowers
I remember the bookie and his runner that used to stand on the corner of Waltham and Paisley. You didn't normally see the bookie untill payout time,.Watching the cops and the bookie's runner was a great source of amusment for a lot of us. On one occasion, the runner, who shall be nameless, was being pursued by a cop up Waltham Road and towards Tichfield Road - diving into Jefferies' gate as they had a corner lot. Don, who I worked with, had just got home. He let the runner in, locked the gate and went back indoors through the kitchen. The copper who arrived seconds later couldn't open the gate and was pounding on the front door. It took ages for Don to open it - apparently he was on the toilet. Meanwhile, the runner had leapt over the back garden fences ( they were like steeple chasers some of them) or he was tucked up in someone's house. Anyway about fifteen minutes later he came riding up from the bottom of Waltham Road on a bike as large as life, all the evidence safely gone, and talking to the women who were about like nothing had happened.
We lived at 91 Waltham Road and my wife had come from a small country town where nothing like this ever happend. It was the highlight of her day when the cops were after the bookie. I also found I had to interpret some of the lanuage and banter that went on between the cops and some of the women, who failed to see why they would be wasting their time chasing some bloke who they considered was doing no harm, when there were real crooks about. It used to get quite fierce at times with the cop threatening to run them in if they didn't be quiet - only to be answered with "You and whose army?". Great fun.
Another thing the bookies used to do when they had a really good runner who had been nicked before (I think three times became a bit more than a misdemeanour) - if they got a tipoff that the cops were going to be about, they would ask one of the local likely lads (of which there were plenty) to stand in for a couple of days. They would pay a small amount a day though not small to us. I think it was about thirty bob and of course, if and when you were nicked they would pay the fine. They were wonderful days the like of which I doubt we will see again.