FOR a change there is some good news for Oxfordshire pensioners.

Thumbs up to the county council, who have withdrawn the 11pm Monday to Friday curfew on the concessionary bus pass.

That meant that from Monday you could travel from 9am to midnight, Monday to Friday, as well as all day at weekends and bank holidays.

So we should thank Keith Mitchell and his team at OCC, not only for this, but also for making a universal starting time of 9am when they took over the responsibility from the district councils, and for retaining subsidies on rural bus services.

Thumbs down to Oxford City Council for deliberately making a decision not to give any financial support to the restructured Dial-a-Ride, which is now the responsibility of the county council.

This is disgraceful really as this is a Labour-run council – a party which purports to look after the interests of the disabled and pensioners.

Yet the Conservative-controlled Cherwell District Council has made a very generous contribution to the new service.

For Oxford residents there will be only one bus as opposed to two previously, which were oversubscribed. The decision to make a contribution by the city council needs to be reviewed and reversed as a matter of priority.

JOHN MACKIE, Chairman, Oxfordshire Pensioners Action Group, Hendred Street, Cowley