Sir – I am amazed to read in your newspaper of the comments by Keith Ludeman (Report, May 7) that his bus company feels that they are giving a “blank cheque” to pensioners concerning using their very valued bus pass.

Does he not realise from a compassionate point of view that many pensioners are quite poor and receive a miserly amount of money from the Government.

Should they not be allowed to have some pleasures in life, such as visiting friends etc, which they can now afford to do with the help of assisted travel.

I expect the take-up of using the pass is heavier at this time of year due to the better weather, when pensioners can get out and about after a long winter being housebound.

But I’ll bet the usage goes down in the winter, consequently in looking at the annual total it all evens itself out.

If it is a problem of finances from local councils that was not responsibly thrashed out at the very beginning, it should not be the pensioners that suffer.

The Government should have borne in mind any financial consequences that would come about when giving this concession to their hard-working people of the past, in being allowed to enjoy their retirement and not worry about finding extra money which consequently can worsen their health.

P. Berry, Oxford