All aboard: Meet the 22-year-old 'nerd' pulling up at the takeaway in his own buses

A Saturday night takeaway with friends is a regular enough occurrence for many young people - but how many pull up outside in a restored Ulsterbus?

Self-confessed nerd Luke Wilson has spent almost £10,000 on buying, preserving and restoring two old buses, which have more than one million miles on the road between them.

The 22-year-old passed his bus-driver test in January and, while his licence is limited to non-fee-paying passengers, Wilson has taken families on short trips and joined old bus rallies, as well as ferrying his friends for that weekend treat.

"It's very nerdy for a 22-year-old - I actually agree with that," he said. "But at the end of the day, I could be putting my money in worse places. At least I have something to show for it."

Wilson has a group of friends who share his passion for old buses.

They work together repairing the vehicles and take them to the old bus rallies.

"I enjoy the restoration part of it the most," he said.

"It's a very rewarding feeling being able to drive on the road or go to events."

The most recent event was a bus and coach rally at the Ulster Transport Museum at Cultra, near Holywood in County Down.

Wilson describes himself as a "bus preservationist" and wants to play his part in the maintenance of Northern Ireland's transport history.

"People buy classic cars, I buy classic buses," he said.

"It's preserving what I went to school on, what I travelled on… before they're all scrapped and all we have left is photographs and videos.

"Everybody has their hobbies. Some people like buses, some people like motorbikes, some people like cars, some people like football, we all have our own interests.

"It makes us different, makes us unique as humans and I think it's great to see."

Wilson is from Newtownabbey, on the northern outskirts of Belfast, and works as a fire-alarm engineer apprentice.

His bus restoration hobby has become extremely expensive with the recent rise in cost of diesel fuel

Wilson said: "You can't just put £20 in and think 'that'll do'.

"The £20 won't even make the gauge move slightly. It's probably about, at the moment, £400 to fill each bus.

"Fuel consumption is around eight to nine miles per gallon, when they're going well.

"They're very, very thirsty machines and very expensive."

Wilson's buses date back two decades. They were first part of the Ulsterbus fleet in 2006.

He bought one in 2024. It was number 822 in the fleet, and was used on the route from Belfast city centre to the International Airport at Aldergrove, as well as the north coast.

Although withdrawn from service in August 2022, the bus was briefly reinstated the following month after the death of Queen Elizabeth II for shuttle trips to Hillsborough Castle.

The bus has clocked up more than 800,000 miles and required significant repairs including a new radiator, tyres, brakes and floor. It also needed to be repainted and repanelled.

Wilson's latest purchase came earlier this year, another single-deck Ulsterbus, which he bought jointly with a friend.

It was number 2464 in the Ulsterbus fleet, and has more than 400,000 miles on the clock. It operated from Bangor to various places including Donaghadee, Dundonald and Newtownards.

It only had 20 seats, rather than the 43 it should have contained, but he has restored the seating.

The buses were part of a batch of 110 Scania vehicles purchased by Translink in the early 2000s, and are still running on their original engines.

Wilson is keen to keep up his hobby and is considering a bigger vehicle.

"I don't know if I should step up to double-decker yet or not, let's wait and see.

"Two at the moment is just enough," he said.

"You never know what might happen in the future."