Here we go again

I agree with you on all counts absentgrana.

absent ditto

How does that tie in with the power of the 'grey pound' of which we hear so much? Can't contribute to the economy nearly as well if stuck at home! Maybe he should also be reminded that our age-group contains a huge number of conscientious voters.

And me absent. I do feel our generation are under attack.

So agree absent ...especially when I've got in writing ...from my MP (re another thread) ..."that grandparents provide £3.9 billion worth of child care every year" !!

And yes that is billion ...so doesn't that equate to nearly 4x 1,000,000 x 1,000,000 more than they give us for transport costs

Or am I too old to do the maths

I still think mass suicide is the only answer to the country's problems - ours that is as we are the root of all their problems I shall begin to drink and chocolate myself to death in earnest - should only take about 20 years.

Not only older people are being targeted. ATOS is the private company to which the government has awarded the contract to examine those claiming Incapacity Benefit or DLA and there have been some ludicrous decisions. Many genuinely ill and disabled people, and their carers, live in dread of being told they are fit to work and will lose their benefit. Of course, if you read the Daily Mail you would think that everyone claiming benefit is a scrounger.

Billions have been paid to consultants to come up with unworkable schemes. Several executives of one of the government's favourite companies, which was paid for getting people into work, have been questioned by the police on the suspicion of fraud - i.e. exaggerating the number of people found long term employment. Of course, nobody would suggest that there has been any corruption in the awarding of these lucrative contracts. We all know that MPs are above any kind of dishonesty.

Someone should do a survey to find out how many people in our local shopping centre are pensioners and how many of them went into town on the bus. I hardly go into town these days due to the cost of parking, but when [if] I get my bus pass I shall go much more often and spend money when I get there. Shall also go to the theatre and cinema in town during the daytime as well, something I don't do now due to parking fees. Who thinks up these ideas? Are the non paying pensioners stopping people from using the buses; are they having to queue for the next bus because they are full? I think not. Oh rage ...

The only way I will travel into Manchester is with my bus pass, as parking fees are exhorbitant. If Manchester city council wants to withdraw my bus pass, it can withdraw my spending power in the city, too. I'll go elsewhere.

.....Eccles?

Trafford Centre (nothing wrong with Eccles, though).

greatnan it's no longer incap, it's now called ESA. We have now started the second set of regulations, much harder than the last ones!

Some good points here. Although I do know one chap who got his bus pass ovr a year ago and has never used it! (Partly because there aren't really any buses that go from the village wher he and his wife live, apart from once a week to the local market that he has no desire to go to.)

He is one of the most youthful pensioners Iknow, looks about mid fifties, drives etc. he and his wife take loads of holidays (they are currently in Australia)

I asked him why he bothered to go in person and get the pass, when he knew full well he woud never use it. His reply? "I'm entitled to it!"

Not that I would ever vote for this lot, but I am sure that an army of pensioners will withdraw their support if the government pays any attention to this notion.

I wonder when they will start rationing our food allowance ?

Maybe we should all be afraid, very afraid... as they say.
Obviously the powers that are realise that very soon there wil be no monies
to pay state pensions.
There are already not enough people working to keep this going for ever.
Scary.

I am concerned about how bus companies recoup the money that would be spent on tickets.
I often walk into town but catch the bus back (hill to climb, shopping to carry, weather deteriorates etc). I ask for a ticket to my destination which is all of a mile away. Frequently I am handed a ticket which has the final destination of the bus printed on it ( 12 to 15 miles away) and about 5 times the cost.
I presume the bus company therefore gets reimbursed the full fare!
Could this be why subsidising travel for OAPs is proving so expensive.

Stagecoach could certainly afford to give pensioners free rides, having seen off the opposition in many areas.

Locally we can travel before 9.30am for 50p. The bus is full of students late for college-on bus passes. Logic always bypasses public bodies.