An Email From 10 Downing Street.

I received this email from 10 Downing St today. If you live in the UK and want to support this petition please click on the link below. Don't worry, it wont hurt and only takes a minute.

Your petition has been approved by the Number 10 web team, and is now available on the Number 10 website at the following address:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/bustravelfree/

Your petition reads:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that local authorities are not forced to partly fund the concessionary bus pass scheme in England.

More information

When Gordon Brown was Chancellor he set up the concessionary bus pass scheme to provide free bus travel to the over sixties and the disabled. At the time he stated that it would be completely funded at central government level and even though local authorities would run the scheme locally, they would not end up using council tax money to support the scheme. However there are Local Authorities up and down the country who are forced to use council tax money to keep the scheme going because central government are not giving all local authorities sufficient funds to run the scheme. The problem appears to be in the criteria used to distribute the funds. These rules need to be looked at and amended.

Some local authorities are having to get rid of council workers to pay for this scheme and some bus companies who are unable to get blood out of a stone are talking about reduction in bus services and redundancies for drivers while the Parks Departments of some councils are wondering how they are going to spend all the money that has suddenly become available because their council is getting more cash than it needs to pay for the "free" bus travel. Something needs to be done before "free" bus passes cause redundancies among council workers and bus drivers and bus services start to disappear. Once they are gone it will be very hard to get them back.

Sign the petition. Please.