The elderly should get free bus travel in Castle Point and not just the "paltry" scrapping of the £5 fee for their bus passes, say pensioners' campaigners.

The one-off fee for the discount pass is set to be scrapped on April 1 next year in line with Government legislation in the new Transport Bill.

However, it still means that the elderly and disabled will pay half price fares, unlike some pensioners in London boroughs who get free public transport.

Alan Mumford, secretary of Canvey Pensioners' Rights Campaign, said: "This is nothing, its a con trick almost. It's maybe a step in the right direction but it doesn't come anywhere near what we should be entitled to."

He claimed pensioners had still not forgiven the council for scrapping the £20 TV licence concession in its budget earlier this year.

The concession applied to people aged 65 to 75 while those 75 and over received free licences under Government rules.

He added: "Getting rid of this fee won't replace that at all. If pensioners in London get free public transport I don't see why we can't. This has been a bone of contention for years."

However, council leader Dave Wells (Lab, St George's ) said: "We simply do not have the budget to provide free public transport.

"The scrapping of the £5 fee is beneficial for the elderly particularly as the number of bus passes has increased.

"People are voting with their feet because they like using the bus pass."

The new bill becomes law on November 27 but local authorities do not need to scrap the fee until April.

An estimated 4-5,000 people carried the discount pass in Castle Point this year but council bosses predict the figure will rise to between 6-7,000 next year.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.