Ken Morgan buys wife Shirley double-decker bus they met on

A husband's romantic gift to his wife was just the ticket - the double-decker bus where they first met.

Former RAF airman Ken Morgan met his wife Shirley when she was a conductress working on the bus route between Gloucester and Cardiff in 1956.

Now, Mr Morgan, 82, has paid £12,000 to buy the red and white vehicle which they keep in a heritage bus collection in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.

He said it took them "back down memory lane to the days when we first met".

Mr Morgan, then aged 22, first met his wife, aged 18, on the 60 mile (97km) journey on the red and white route one bus, which cost two shillings and six pence, before asking her on a date.

He left the RAF and even trained to be a bus driver to work with her before the pair married in 1959.

"Working on the buses with Shirley really was some of the happiest times of my life," Mr Morgan said.

The couple on their wedding day nearly 60 years ago

After seeing one of the red and white buses in a transport museum, he found a collector who had saved another one from the scrap yard who sold it to the couple.

"I offered to help restore the bus. It was the same fleet 1749 which we met [on] all those years before. It was a real labour of love," Mr Morgan said.

The couple now travel from their home in Ashford, Middlesex, to take nostalgic trips around their old bus routes on the 1949 Guy Arab double-decker.

The couple have worked hard to restore the bus to its former glory

He said: "We are a good team and it's been so nice in our retirement years to play driver and conductor again. It reminds us of our courting days.

"We had such great times. I still adore Shirley as much as I did back then."

Mrs Morgan, 78, added: "We both believe in destiny and meeting Ken on the bus that day in 1956 was just meant to be.

"I still have my original conductress badge and wear it with as much pride as my wedding ring."