PENSIONER Bob Edmonds has scored a victory over the way a council handles concessionary fares for elderly people, writes Suzanne Huband.

West Oxfordshire District Council offers pensioners £21 a year in bus tokens or towards the cost of a senior citizen's Railcard.

Mr Edmonds, of Eynsham, reached 65 in August but did not bother to apply for his allocation of tokens until November. When he did he was told he would lose some of his allocation because the council would not backdate it to his birthday.

So he put his case to the council's finance and general purposes committee.

He said: "I was unable to collect the tokens on my birthday and when I applied in November I was told I would be penalised for late application and forfeit some vouchers.

"There was nothing on the literature to say I must report on my birthday or I would be penalised. I feel I was treated in an underhand way. There should be no penalty of subtracted tokens if they are applied for after the birthday date."

Councillors agreed that when application for travel tokens was made after the entitlement date it would be backdated, but no further than the previous birthday.

A move by Cllr David Rossiter to increase the value of the tokens by £3 to £24 from April was rejected.

"Everyone accepts that the value of tokens is failing to keep pace with the rise in fares," he said.

Councillor Ted Cooper said: "We are a rich council and we have the money. Those who are using the tokens could do with the extra."

Story date: Wednesday 16 February

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