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A report in The Sunday Times (9th April) 'Cry freedom with my bus pass' gives an interesting report by Hunter Davies of a pensioners delight in using his free bus pass- BUT-

We hear that someone wrote into the Daily Telegraph saying they had heard that that free bus passes from outside London could not be used in London. This has to be nonsense of course. In plain language the Government website says:

"Local bus and coach travel in England

Everyone aged 60 or over is entitled to free off-peak bus travel anywhere in England. Off-peak travel is when you travel any time after 9.30am Monday to Friday, and all day at weekends."

With thanks to PB of Kent for drawing this to our attention.

This story may eminate from a report in the Daily Telegraph 6th April which sounds like a simple case of a bus driver being confronted with a new pass and not being quite sure, which is understandable at this early stage. He did accept the pass.

Congratulations to Richard Elloway (the Times 10th April) who becomes first pensioner to travel free from Land's End to John o'Groats. (He was able to do this we read as he arranged free travel in Scotland, which isn't covered by the England National Bus Passes.

Isle of Wight bus pass scheme has no travel restrictions

We are grateful for Mr M for drawing our attention to the fact that on the Isle of Wight bus pass use is allowed at any time of the day, any day of the week, subject to local bus operating times. A number of other local authorities allow extended times within their area, e.g. West Berkshire allow travel with a bus pass from 9am. We're interested to hear of other cases.

A BLIND woman has accused city and county councils of being “incompetent and uncaring” after she was left without a concessionary bus pass the Chester Chronicle reports. After waiting for seven weeks for a pass, Ursula Lennon, 71, claims that her attempts to sort it out were fruitless. Mrs Lennon, of Dicksons Drive, Newton, said: “I have been passed from city council to county council and back again. Neither knew who issued the passes and one person spoke with some authority when she said it was a problem with the printers, and suggested I call them.

Southampton residents National Bus Passes being sent out early June '08

Following the technical problems experienced in Southampton in missing the 1st April deadline, a press release of 2nd June says "A new multi-purpose card that Southampton residents can use on buses, in libraries and in leisure centres will be arriving in the post this week. Concessionary bus pass holders will be pleased to know their new national pass has now been sent with added benefits to make their lives easier.

Pensioners using wedding photos

Meanwhile we hear that problems with photographs have caused problems in Tyne & Wear: "Plans to hand out free bus passes hit trouble when transport chiefs discovered some pictures of pensioners dated back to their wedding day.
Others were holiday snaps or pictures taken in the pub while some were rejected because people’s faces were obscured by hats.
Transport operator Nexus says the vast majority of the 220,000 passes issued across Tyne & Wear were delivered on time. However, around 5,000 were held up mainly because of problems with wrong addresses and photographs which were rejected. The old pictures were on the existing database of concessionary pass holders held by Nexus and were used when the rules weren’t as strict. Read more on this story from the Evening Chronicle

If you are an existing bus pass holder and haven't heard from your local council about the new pass, it could be worth

The New National Bus Pass scheme is proving a great boon to the over 60s and Disabled -most local authorities set out on their websites how to apply for the new passes - if you are having problems getting yours, please let us know. Or visit our page of links to local authority bus pass/concessionary travel websites to contact them.

Record Journeys by Bus Pass

We're so keen to hear of the best opportunities being taken with the new National Bus Pass that we are offering a pewter hip flask for the best (longest/most interesting) itinerary submitted to us by 30th April 2008.