WHAT Mr Dale and others who have so vociferously criticised Bromsgrove District Council's new concessionary fares scheme fail to appreciate is that the new Central Government diktat has effectively doubled the number of qualifying residents entitled to the concession.

The old scheme offered a free bus pass and a free car parking permit. Qualifying Bromsgrove residents, however, could not have both, which made a lot of sense and enabled the council to offer a free bus fare concession. Nothing is free in this world however, as nearly half a million pounds has to be paid to those coach operators in our scheme.

Like most matters in which central governments interfere and do not understand, the result is usually a worse rather than a better service.

Now that we have a potential to double the number of residents who qualify for a concession, the only way to ensure that we did not overshoot our budget was to introduce the new fare scheme that offered a limited free fare up to maximum single fare of £1.20 and a 50 per cent subsidy for single fare above £2.40.

There are, I understand only 10 local authorities in England that do not offer a fare concession of sorts to their elderly and disabled. It would have been far too logical for this Government to concentrate its efforts on those 10 authorities rather than interfere with the concessions offered by everybody else.

If this Government had left us well alone, the qualifying residents of the Bromsgrove District would have continued to enjoy a free fares concession.

NICK PSIRIDES,

Bromsgrove District Council.