Prisoners party and Labour vote for cuting the winter fuel payment

[boingy]

My wife is 66 today and will recieve her pension and bus pass .
When we was courting ,I used to say that she would be a pensioner 3months before me , as she would have had it at 60s .
Still we are gratefull to both reach pension age , alot of our old friends never made it .

I often think about that Soulman. I've got three years to go and my wife maybe 5. Seems a long way off, as they say on Stingray "Anything can happen in the next half hour"

[mickd1961]

The thing about the free bus pass is that it’s a non story from my perspective, how many people actually use it?

I couldn’t tell you the last time I used a bus, if I never get on another one again I’ll die happy.

The cost of this must surely be in the administration of the pass and the creation and posting of them.

It would be far better and cheaper if you had to apply for one if you need i.

Labour make it sound as if there’s 20 million passengers trying to cram onto buses which is b o l l o x.

I’d rather see a system where it was by application only and renewed yearly as I think the actual uptake would be relatively small and the cost of administration and production of cards would plummet.

I’d prefer money to be put towards people of any age group who are in difficult financial situations being able to access a free or subsidised bus and rail pass, this would aid upward mobility a lot and make a real difference to some lives.

[Albionic68]

There's a lot of generalisations on this thread but there's one thing I can't get out of my head. My father in law must be thick as fk. He got equity release on his bungalow instead of looking under the bed for his last million which was scarily close to his other last million. No wonder he keeps bumping his head. There was me thinking he keeps falling over but no.

He's obviously banging his head off the bedroom ceiling of his bungalow roof on a little house on account of all the millions he squirrelled away during his working life when his three kids all went without food, toys and clothing during their childhood. And he certainly never had a social life, fed the wife, paid a mortgage, house insurance, taxes and national insurance or funded a car other than the ones he drove.

Can't imagine his wife's care package came to much following her decline due to vascular dementia either. She only had the carers in three times a day for about four years and carers do earn far less than the London waitering classes. And it's not like the machine which regulated her oxygen intake would have cost much as electricity is far cheaper than gas anyway.

And as he lives in a bungalow it wouldn't have cost much to heat and keep his wife who could barely walk warm. It's tiny and as we all know his energy prices would have been less on account of them being in their 70s and then 80s instead of having to pay a premium like those young sales types in their early twenties whose lives are so hard they can only afford the latest tech gadgets, cars and holidays.

That's the thing about generalisations. They never tell the whole story and they're often formed on the back of headlines and soundbites. Helps explain one other thing though. Why I often see pensioners in supermarkets with tiny shopping baskets containing tea bags, bread and little else.

It's not because they're so skint they're getting by on tea and toast. They've obviously forgotten about the money under the bed and they're all on diets as well having suckled on society's breast for so long. Anyway don't mind me. The wife's looking forward to her inheritance and it's a lovely day so I'm off down to Dover to machine gun some refugees from the clifftops as nobody else can be arsed to do it anymore.

Big 😉.

[soulman101]

I haven't been on a bus since my ****s .
But the bus pass is usefull for the metro , I stopped using it for the match as it was too dangerous going up and down the steps at the Hawthorns and the carriages were to packed for our young uns .
My mom who never drove ,loved her bus pass she and her friend used to have days out on it .

[baggieal]

Plenty of pensioners use free buses as they can’t drive or can afford to run a car with insurance, taxes and devaluation. Free buses are also used in fleets at the ports of the U.K. for transportation. What about folk who love a good few pints and get caught and lose their licence?

[mickd1961]

Plenty of pensioners use free buses as they can’t drive or can afford to run a car with insurance, taxes and devaluation. Free buses are also used in fleets at the ports of the U.K. for transportation. What about folk who love a good few pints and get caught and lose their licence?

Minute numbers.

Let’s do a poll on here for starters.

Who has a bus pass and uses it regularly instead of a car?

[Albionic68]

If you're going to do a poll it needs to be more inclusive to reflect current times. Do you have a car? Do you have a free bus pass? Do you even use the bus? Do you prefer to walk? Do you use the train? Do you use the Metro? Do you use the Underground? Do you use them all? Do you have a broomstick? Do you identity as a broomstick? Do you swim? Do you identify as a fish today? If so what type of fish?..... the list could be as endless as the possibilities.

[soulman101]

I've used mine once this year Brum on the metro , my neighbours use there's about 3 times a week .

[mickd1961]

I've used mine once this year Brum on the metro , my neighbours use there's about 3 times a week .

Have they got a car though?

My question is quite simple,

Do you own a car and a free bus pass, if you do, how often do you use your free bus pass?

No doubt AL will muddy the waters by introducing university graduate baristas and their need for free transport because Harrogate is sadly lacking in both legal and illegal immigrants.

Let’s stick to the simple question eh?

Just for a change.

[soulman101]

Have they got a car though?

My question is quite simple,

Do you own a car and a free bus pass, if you do, how often do you use your free bus pass?

No doubt AL will muddy the waters by introducing university graduate baristas and their need for free transport because Harrogate is sadly lacking in both legal and illegal immigrants.

Let’s stick to the simple question eh?

Just for a change.

Yes they have 2 cars