FREE unrestricted travel for people over 60 in Tenbury and the Teme Valley will be available from next year thanks to a Worcester-shire County Council scheme.

By law, free travel comes into force for the over 60s from next year, but with restrictions between boundaries and times of travel.

The county council has responded to these limitations by offering to top up Malvern Hills District Council's concessionary fare fund from April 2006.

John Smith, cabinet member with responsibility for the environment, said: 'The new scheme is good but it's restricted - older people need to have more freedom to travel before 9.30am and across boundaries. What good is free travel if it does not cover you for doctor's appointment at 9am, or let you travel over a district boundary to the city centre?"

The county council's plan of topping up the concessionary fare funds of all the district councils across Worcestershire to a total of £310,000 would allow all day travel and free travel across district boundaries.

District councillor George Price has welcomed the scheme. "In Tenbury Wells you have only got to travel down the end of the road and you are in another county but now the concessions apply as long as you start and end your journey in the same county," he said.

He added that although public services may not be "as good as they could be there had nevertheless been a vast improvement over the last few years with more buses running to Worcester".