It is hardly surprising that there has been a mixed reaction from pensioners to a bus company boss’s call to limit free bus travel.

For many pensioners, getting free bus travel has transformed their lives and they have been able to get out of their houses to go shopping, travel, and meet their friends.

There is an ageing population in the UK, and being more mobile has been a boon for men and women who make up the growing number of grey voters.

On the face of it, the scheme introduced 14 months ago was a brilliant idea by the Labour government, but senior politicians failed to assess properly the financial consequences.

Thousands of pensioners have been using their bus passes to make free trips to tourist destinations like Oxford, and the same pattern has been repeated across the country.

But the Government has failed to compensate local councils adequately for financing the scheme, and Oxford City Council was left with a £2.4m bill in the first year.

This large sum puts pressure on all council tax payers, particularly as the bus companies are insistent that poor planning will not lead to them losing out financially.

This was demonstrated last month when Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach won a higher reimbursement rate on free travel, which led to the council shelling out an extra £600,000.

Keith Ludeman, the chief executive of Go-Ahead Group, may be right when he says unlimited free bus travel is financially unsustainable.

But the bus companies have done everything they can to ensure that they are not the ones losing out.

This should not turn into an argument pitting the pensioners against the council and/or the bus companies. The Government should sort this out.

If the Government continues to underfund the concession, the taxpayer will end up footing the bill.