April Fool's Day changes no laughing matter for bus pass holders- Leech

4.37.50pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 30th Mar 2009

John Leech is unhappy at the government's proposed cuts in service.

Manchester Withington MP John Leech will today move to block government proposals that would strip elderly and disabled people of the right use their free bus passes on hundreds of services.

At present, any bus or coach service that charges separate fares and has stops less than 15 miles apart is classified as a local service, meaning that drivers have to accept bus passes. However, as of Wednesday - April Fool's Day - the rules will change so that bus companies will be able to refuse the right of passengers to use their passes on any service on which the majority of seats can be pre-booked. This will account for some 22,500 journeys this year according to Department for Transport estimates. It will then be up to local authorities to fund these services if they choose to.

John Leech, the Liberal Democrats' transport spokesman, said:

"This time last year the government was talking up the free bus pass scheme to great fanfare. Now it seems that they are trying to cut down the use of the passes by the back door without any parliamentary scrutiny."

The new changes will also impact upon Park and Ride schemes, which may also become ineligible.

John Leech added:

"If the changes go ahead as planned it will represent yet another broken promise by this Labour government, who were patting themselves on the back when they introduced the scheme last year. Now they want to transfer the financial burden onto already stretched local authorities, who would then be expected to cover the cost of operating the services."

"No-one is questioning the need for the rules governing eligible services to be clarified. However, what need is a clear, open parliamentary debate on them with the option to vote against the proposals if it appears that pensioners and disabled passengers are going to be losing out. Introducing the changes via the back door is not the way to go about it."

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Notes to editors:

On Wednesday, 1st April 2009, Statutory Instrument SI 2009/575 The Travel Concessions (Eligible Services) (Amendment) Order 2009 is to come into force, which will change the criteria of services on which bus passes are eligible. For further details see: http://opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090575_en_1

John Leech will today (Monday, 30th March) table a motion in parliament to block the SI and call for a debate on its content.