Rotherham pensioners' anger over free bus pass move

The Treasury believes it can save £1 billion by increasing the age at which off-peak travel is free to people aged 60 to 65.

But Rotherham Pensioners’ Action Group say it would be a promise broken by the Government if the perk was stripped from them.

Chairman Keith Billington said: “The free bus travel took a lot of getting, but it wouldn’t take much for them to take it away. Nationally, the pensioners’ groups are vehemently opposed to this.

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“It will take some defending, but if fighting causes like this isn’t what the group was set up for, then I don’t know what is.”

The Rotherham group campaigned strongly for the introduction of concessionary rates five years ago.

“John Healey MP got four of our group invited to see Gordon Brown in 2005, when we argued strongly for this scheme,” said Mr Billington.

“If you looked at places like London, Birmingham, Liverpool, they had been offering free travel for donkeys years before that.

“And if it was good enough for them, then it was good enough for us in Rotherham. We helped get the scheme introduced locally in 2005, before it went national.”

The Government’s plan is for entitlement age to rise on a sliding scale. It means anyone turning 60 in August will have to wait a month for their pass, but those turning 60 in 2015 will have to wait five years.

Free bus passes were introduced across the UK in 2007 and more then 11 million are currently in use.

Transport secretary Philip Hammond suggested that pensioners could help save the country money by not using their passes where they can afford it.

He said: “The bus passes only cost the taxpayer if they are used and so people who are well-off, who feel that they want to make contribution by not using their bus pass, have it within their power to do so.”

The Rotherham Pensioners’ Action Group meets at the RAIN building on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 10.15am.

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