A BUS driver and a passenger had a ticket to ride on the love bus after meeting at a bus stop.

Michael Willson and Denise Ashby married a fortnight ago at Chelmsford register office, opposite the Victoria Road South bus stop where he used to drop her off at work nine years ago.

Michael, who lived in Braintree until four years ago, met Denise at the Sandon park and ride, where he drove the shuttle bus for First.

They used to chat and became friends, until she announced two years later that she was moving to a new job in Basildon.

"I was depressed, it hit me really hard," said Michael, 44.

"I didn't know until she was gone what my true feelings were.

"For the next six years I couldn't find her."

He even left First and joined a coach tour operator because he was so upset at not seeing Denise on his bus route.

Mr Willson returned after about a year and a half because he did not like always being on the move and living in hotels.

His new route was the "moonlight" shift on the X30 Southend to Stansted service, working 7pm to 6am.

Then one day in March last year, at Chelmsford bus station, fate intervened.

"I was standing there loading up my coach and she walked up behind me," said Mr Willson, who survived a horrific motorbike crash in Station Approach, Braintree, when he was 17 in 1988.

Denise, 47, asked how he was and he replied: "The long and the short of it is I said 'it's not okay, I should have told you this when you left, I didn't realise what I thought of you until you were gone."

Although shocked, she agreed to go for a drink with him and from there, the couple's relationship blossomed.

She proposed to him at Victoria Road South bus stop last July after persuading him to go for a walk the day they returned from a short break to Dover and Calais.

They decided to marry opposite the same stop because of its significance in how they met.

Mr Willson, who was named bus driver of the year in Colchester in 2004, now lives with his new bride in Canside, Chelmsford.