ELDERLY and disabled residents having difficulty booking Redditch's Dial-A-Ride door-to-door bus service will hopefully benefit when a new computerised booking system is installed later this year.

But Conservative group leader on Redditch Council, Carole Gandy, said she was concerned at the number of calls being lost at the moment.

She cited November 25 as an example when just 20 out of 308 calls for bookings were answered between the times of 9- 10am.

Mrs Gandy said: "At the moment, there is just one person with a book taking calls. I know council officers are doing their best but we do need an improved system.

"The new computerised system will greatly improve the efficiency of bookings and the routing of the buses but I want to see if we can get some call-back system in place before then.

"I have spoken to a lot of people, mainly elderly and disabled, who are finding it very hard to get through and therefore very difficult to get out and about."

Mrs Gandy welcomed the fact two new Dial-A-Ride buses would be added to the current fleet of four in April.

But she said she still feared demand would outstrip supply.

She added: "There's a possibility the re-introduction of free bus passes for pensioners may alleviate pressure on Dial-A-Ride and I am awaiting figures on that.

"But in the meantime, we must improve efficiency somehow because the new computer system may take some time to get up and running."