I AM reminded, on the 50th anniversary of Celtic winning the European Cup, of a story told to me by a colleague.

We were both working for Regent Oil Company at that time. He decided to organise a "going away" party at a Regent-owned filling station on Alexandra Parade. The idea was that cars travelling to Lisbon would assemble on the forecourt, fill up with petrol (no diesel cars then), check their oil and tyre pressures, be given some gifts and maps by Regent Oil, and leave, initially in a procession, then heading off to Lisbon to support Celtic.

Bear in mind that very few Scottish motorists had travelled by car into Europe and many of the cars were old and unreliable. Few had knowledge of the length of the journey in front of them.

One hopeful supporter went around car after car asking for a lift. All the cars were full, and it seemed as if his hopes were to be dashed.

Eventually one kind person took pity on his seemingly fruitless requests, opened the door and said: "Come with us, you can sit on my knee."

To this day I wonder how they managed.

John Ewing,

Fairfield Park, Ayr.