North Wiltshire bus passes arrive month late

5:09pm Monday 7th April 2008

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PENSIONERS in North Wiltshire have finally received their free bus passes after a government blunder in their production.

Vital information on the encoding of the bus passes was delayed for a month after the Department for Transport didn't sent it out to contractor Euclid.

When the information finally arrived the whole process was slowed down because of the number of passes needed.

Deputy leader of North Wiltshire District Council Alison Bucknell said: "This was a catalogue of errors - a central government cock-up.

"On April 1 when everyone was supposed to receive the passes, we took 587 calls from angry pensioners and, although this was entirely not our fault, we took the flack."

Chairman of charity Transport for the Disabled Maureen Lloyd has said she received a number of concerns from pensioners.

She said: "There seemed to be a lot of concern about when we would actually receive these passes.

"I know a number of people were worried they would not be able to use their existing passes and that caused some upset.

"I am glad to say that we have now received the passes and everyone seems to be happy with them."

All pensioners in Chippenham received their passes at the weekend.