Government to slash National Express concessionary fares

viridens

Government funding of half price coach travel for over 60's AND THE DISABLED is to be cut.

If they get away with this it may well be followed by cutting local bus concessions too. And they will get away with it unless enough voices are raised against it.

There is a template letter here http://nationalexpress.chtah.com/a/hBOUoswANcU-lB8c4ywNsmT5uUh/nx4 to email or post to your MP.

Don't forget that even of you are still years away from retirement, it will still be gone when you retire!

robt_2

Concessions like this should be means tested - and I will still be saying that when I am retired.

Why should our taxes pay for incredibly well off elderly (and disabled for that matter) people to have these perks? They should only be for those who would struggle financially.

Sorry if it isn't a popular opinion!

paddedjohn

robt wrote: »

Concessions like this should be means tested - and I will still be saying that when I am retired.

Why should our taxes pay for incredibly well off elderly (and disabled for that matter) people to have these perks? They should only be for those who would struggle financially.

Sorry if it isn't a popular opinion!

Dont apologise, i totally agree with this reasoning, why should i subsidise those that can afford to pay?

McKneff

Because we have paid for your housing benefit, your sick pay, your council tax benefits, any money anyone has got from any benefits,
we paid for in our taxes sweetheart.

Im 61, Ive worked for 45 years out of 47, brought kids up and have never claimed any thing from the government apart from child benefit.

Have a word with your parents and grandparents.

epm-84

robt wrote: »

Concessions like this should be means tested - and I will still be saying that when I am retired.

I agree with that point in principle. However, we also need to be careful to not reward people for spending all the money they've earned and penalise people who've saved some of their money for their retirement. That's the problem with unemployment benefits currently - if you spend all your money you'll get benefits if you lose your job whereas if you save as much as you can then any claim for benefits will be rejected.

However, saying that there is no need for anyone with £500,000 in savings to be offered any benefits/concessions.

There was once a letter in my local paper complaining about how my local council offered a £10 a year subsidy for a Senior's railcard, whereas a neighbouring council charged £14 a year subsidy. The letter came from a street where the cheapest house is worth around £700,000!

mustrum_ridcully

McKneff wrote: »

Because we have paid for your housing benefit, your sick pay, your council tax benefits, any money anyone has got from any benefits,
we paid for in our taxes sweetheart.

Im 61, Ive worked for 45 years out of 47, brought kids up and have never claimed any thing from the government apart from child benefit.

Have a word with your parents and grandparents.

Some of these rich pensioners could have been paying the highest rate of income tax which in the 70's was 83%.

I'd love to know what proportion of pensioners are really rich (household income above the national average).

Also I'd really love to know how much the administration of this means testing would cost. You all the executives, managers, middle managers, pen pushers, means testing operatives yadda yadda yadda.

2010

I received the email from NE last night and immediately downloaded the template and forwarded it to my MP.
I don`t expect very much to happen and the funding of the concession will go.

Governments have got plenty of money to bomb Libya, increase overseas aid spending and give benefits to all and sundry, usually the ones that have never paid a penny in.

But when it comes to getting a decent pension or any other minor concession, the pot is suddenly empty.

The knockers will be pensioners one day (if they live that long) and if they don`t want to claim any concessions such as bus passes, then they don`t have to.

All I can say is there`ll be a lot of NE coaches running about empty leading to job losses and more unemployment.

robt_2

Is there a link to a news article about this rather than the NE letter? Had a quick look but can'[t find one.

Also quite predictable that I am being portrayed as some sort of unemployed chav who might not live to retirement. None of you know who I am, how old I am, what I do, or indeed how much tax I pay.

ceebeeby

McKneff wrote: »

Because we have paid for your housing benefit, your sick pay, your council tax benefits, any money anyone has got from any benefits,
we paid for in our taxes sweetheart.

Im 61, Ive worked for 45 years out of 47, brought kids up and have never claimed any thing from the government apart from child benefit.

Have a word with your parents and grandparents.

Despite your advanced years, I assume you never learnt how to be nice in posts "Sweetheart"!

I don't know if you're referring to previous posts by the person you were responding too, and if so, perhaps that's why the animosity. But just to clarify, you didn't / haven't paid for mine because I've never claimed a penny.

However, I also think it should be stopped altogether, or at the very least means tested - at which time, anyone in receipt of the travel component of DLA or in receipt of something like Pensions Credits etc. or have a generous personal income should be ruled out.

Perhaps one of the first things to go should be giving a free bus-pass to over 60's who don't even LIVE in this country, like all the OAP expats in Spain for a start - you should have to live in this country for at least 10 months (or so) of the year to get benefits IMHO! It astounded me when i found out they all get one!

2010

Important news on the concessionary fares scheme

As somebody who has used the Government's half price coach ticket scheme, we want to give you some important information.

The scheme currently provides up to half price travel for over 60 year olds and disabled people through Government funding.

The Government has announced that this funding will end on 31 October 2011 as part of its spending cuts programme.

While we are looking to introduce a replacement scheme, without the government funding it is not possible to make discounts as high and the cost of travel will increase for you.

We have written to the Government to ask that they reconsider this decision. We have also written to a number of MPs to raise our concerns. Many MPs have told us they agree and have written to ministers at the Department for Transport to ask them whether they have considered the potential impact on eligible passengers' ability to travel.

From your letters and emails, we know that many of you rely on the half price fares. Some have also expressed concern that without it, they may not be able to travel. If you share these concerns, perhaps you could write to, or email, your local MP to encourage them to raise your concern with the Department for Transport.

If you wish to write to your local MP we have included a letter template that you may want to use, simply add your details, print and send.

We will be in touch soon with more information on how you can take advantage of the half price travel scheme before it ends.

Yours Sincerely,
Andrew Cleaves
Managing Director - National Express, Coach

robt_2

McKneff wrote: »

Because we have paid for your housing benefit, your sick pay, your council tax benefits, any money anyone has got from any benefits,
we paid for in our taxes sweetheart.

Or, the other way of looking at it is that my taxes pay for your subsidised travel, sweetheart

Im 61, Ive worked for 45 years out of 47, brought kids up and have never claimed any thing from the government apart from child benefit.

Oh, so you have claimed from the Government then (unlike me I should add).

Have a word with your parents and grandparents.

What makes you think I am of an age where they are still alive?

You are 61 - you should know by now that people have different opinions 'sweetheart'.