Gransnet on the wireless

Aveline

They will have found the most extreme case possible to emphasise the point. Re contacting Gransnet for comment - they'd be better contacting Age UK rather than a social media site. Not saying much for the media all round.

I doubt Elsie is the most extreme case possible unfortunately Aveline. At least she’s physically fit enough to find a solution, and get herself to the bus stop each morning. There will be less mobile and disabled people who don’t have the ability to do that, who are spending their time in their cold home wrapped in blankets or in bed.

JaneJudge

or maybe gransnet contacted them
sitting on the bus for warmth is nothing new

No, I have heard of this before now.

I worked in a large library years ago and it was used daily by elderly people just wanting to keep warm. They would arrive as the doors opened and leave just before we closed.
Sadly many libraries have closed now so that option isn't as available as it once was.
Many of the people had some disabilities or mental health problems which would have made volunteering impossible.

I feel sad that people have to resort to sitting on buses or finding other free warmth.

or maybe gransnet contacted them
sitting on the bus for warmth is nothing new

Elsie should be entitled to Pension Credit if her income is, as reported, £170 per week.

During the conversation, which covered the UK's support of Ukraine and the cost of living, Susanna revealed she had an email from 77-year-old Elsie who can only afford to eat one meal and day and spends her morning riding on buses for free to avoid using energy at home

I really doubt Elsie is a Gransnet user. The poor lady spends all her time on the bus - I doubt she even has a computer, let alone a laptop or iPad

Elsie must have some access to a computer because she emailed Susannah Reid about her plight.

They will have found the most extreme case possible to emphasise the point. Re contacting Gransnet for comment - they'd be better contacting Age UK rather than a social media site. Not saying much for the media all round.

JaneJudge

No rural lunch clubs
No rural buses
I think people need to stop basing their own experience on what is happening to other people
That poor bloody woman fgs

Doesn't she live in London?

Rural villages are often more friendly than big cities, though, and volunteers often do arrange activities for older people.
There are befriending groups and they could help people access help too.

There are few buses, I agree.

I agree with you too Libman.
I doubt whether Elsie has been riding around on a bus for fun, or out of laziness or some sort of lack of mental capacity. This has been her solution to the problem of keeping warm and it seems quite a resourceful one.

Libman

Judging from the replies on here I would say Elsie doesn’t have much in common with many on Gransnet. Why should she have to volunteer to stay warm? Surely it’s a basic right to be warm and decently fed? She’s 77! Some 77 year olds are still very active and some are not…..Not using her time ‘usefully’ has got nothing to do with the current situation where the energy companies are reporting massive profits whilst the most disadvantaged are living hand to mouth due to the massive hike in fuel charges. Perhaps Elsie was managing perfectly well a few months ago.

Quite a few entitled responses here. I am saddened.

Me too, just because others can do things, does not mean everyone can.

I think it's very sad that Elsie had to resort to such things and I do wonder if where she lives contributes to her plight. London is not somewhere that caters for the poor or for social needs. I have heard of pensioners taking the bus into town and walking around shopping malls so they didn't have to heat their house. Personally I think I'd go for sitting in my local library, I always find it too warm when I am choosing my books and sitting reading would suit me.

I’ve taken the bus from Southend to Stanstead airport more times than I care to remember. It soon became obvious that there were a group of men who took the bus to the airport to have a lovely get together, spend time at the airport and then get the bus home. All free.

No rural lunch clubs
No rural buses
I think people need to stop basing their own experience on what is happening to other people
That poor bloody woman fgs

Libman

Judging from the replies on here I would say Elsie doesn’t have much in common with many on Gransnet. Why should she have to volunteer to stay warm? Surely it’s a basic right to be warm and decently fed? She’s 77! Some 77 year olds are still very active and some are not…..Not using her time ‘usefully’ has got nothing to do with the current situation where the energy companies are reporting massive profits whilst the most disadvantaged are living hand to mouth due to the massive hike in fuel charges. Perhaps Elsie was managing perfectly well a few months ago.

Quite a few entitled responses here. I am saddened.

Agree with you Libman. My Mother up to 76 had been helping in a Charity shop but had to stop with health problems. She used to take 'a long bus trip round' to get into town so she could chat to people and take all morning. Her finances were just ok and she wouldn't consider looking into benefits, pride jumps to mind.
2 of the lunch clubs she went to weekly had to stop and then
she went to a day care centre nearby but that closed down.
This was in 2008!

I did not say she had to libman I said it’s something that would be better than sitting on a bus all day
I also mentioned other alternatives, day clubs Sally Army even libraries or luncheon clubs ( which often have people sitting around for hours) local churches
Yes you are right she may be an ‘old’ or an infirm lady at 77 year old she may have mental health problems but there are groups to help all sorts of people
I think we don’t know enough about Elsie really and her living conditions to make a considered judgment

True ☹️☹️

MawtheMerrier

It sounds a bit crass, but I’d quite like to spend a day travelling round London or any city on the bus! I’d see lots of places I have always meant to go to and it would be sightseeing on the cheap!
I can think of somebody who gets the bus from Brackley to Buckingham or Bicester every day and seems to have made friends with other “regulars” on his bus route.

Only if I could get to the upper deck!

Libman

Judging from the replies on here I would say Elsie doesn’t have much in common with many on Gransnet. Why should she have to volunteer to stay warm? Surely it’s a basic right to be warm and decently fed? She’s 77! Some 77 year olds are still very active and some are not…..Not using her time ‘usefully’ has got nothing to do with the current situation where the energy companies are reporting massive profits whilst the most disadvantaged are living hand to mouth due to the massive hike in fuel charges. Perhaps Elsie was managing perfectly well a few months ago.

Quite a few entitled responses here. I am saddened.

No, she shouldn't have to do that to keep warm.

And, yes, I was getting outraged discussing the massive profits of energy companies last night with DH.

However, I do think going to a lunch club is a good idea even if just to meet other people for a chat especially if someone like Else spends a lot of time alone.

It sounds a bit crass, but I’d quite like to spend a day travelling round London or any city on the bus! I’d see lots of places I have always meant to go to and it would be sightseeing on the cheap!
I can think of somebody who gets the bus from Brackley to Buckingham or Bicester every day and seems to have made friends with other “regulars” on his bus route.

Germanshepherdsmum

She doesn’t sound like a typical poster. If she was on GN I think she would have told us of her plight. No heating and one meal a day sounds a bit extreme.

The person interviewed would have been from GN/MNHQ surely? Their views would have been sought as a source of information on older people.

Judging from the replies on here I would say Elsie doesn’t have much in common with many on Gransnet. Why should she have to volunteer to stay warm? Surely it’s a basic right to be warm and decently fed? She’s 77! Some 77 year olds are still very active and some are not…..Not using her time ‘usefully’ has got nothing to do with the current situation where the energy companies are reporting massive profits whilst the most disadvantaged are living hand to mouth due to the massive hike in fuel charges. Perhaps Elsie was managing perfectly well a few months ago.

Quite a few entitled responses here. I am saddened.

if I had the choice at 77 to ride around on buses all day or do something useful I know what is my choice
Perhaps the lady is very infirm in which case I can’t imagine sitting on a bus for long periods is an ideal way there must be other ways and we need to make our own adjustments if possible
We have a elderly persons club here and people often stay there for hours and get a dinner I m sure most places have somewhere like that even a warm library would be better

If volunteering meant standing up all day long, I know I couldn't do that.
However, I am sure, as you say Bluebelle, in London there must be lunch clubs etc where Elsie could go (on the bus) for warmth, a hot meal and some company.

news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-utterly-shameful-that-pensioners-are-riding-buses-to-keep-warm-says-labour-12604615

Interviewed on ITV's Good Morning Britain programme, the PM was told of one 77-year-old pensioner called Elsie who has seen her energy bill soar so high that she has cut down to eating just one meal a day and spends the day travelling on the bus with her free pass to keep warm.

Asked what other sacrifices vulnerable people such as Elsie could possibly make, the PM replied: "The 24-hour freedom bus pass was actually something that I actually introduced ."

How kind of him.

It must have been on the evening news too in the last couple of days because I don't watch Good Morning.

I have heard of this before and wondered how many are having to do this?

Is this the same person who was interviewed on the national news yesterday?

Perhaps she’s getting help from Westminster Age UK is because No 10 contacted them. I must say my experience of buses in London was that you couldn’t rely on them to be heated. There might be a lot of body heat at peak times but not reliably warm throughout the day. Ditto trains. Sitting all day is not good for anyone able to move and I question the one meal a day. She is from a generation that can make a meal out of little. I wonder if it was actually a set up, or she has mental health problems.

What I don't understand is why, when costs rise, benefits don't rise by the same percentage. .