Pensioners in Richmond and Hounslow angry over Freedom Pass chaos (From Your Local Guardian)

Pensioners in Richmond and Hounslow angry over Freedom Pass chaos

12:00pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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Pensioners have hit out at the new Freedom Pass system after facing lengthy delays in receiving their free ticket to ride.

People aged 60 and over have been required to apply for a new Freedom Pass, which they must show from April 1 to travel for free on public transport in London.

However residents in Richmond and Hounlsow have faced difficulties and frustration as they try to get hold of their new pass before the deadline.

Maurice Leonard, 70, from Teddington, has been waiting almost two months for his pass to arrive, after sending off his application form on January 25.

He said: “It’s been unbelievable.

“I was told it would come within 10 days but it didn’t arrive so after two or three weeks I called the numbers on the back of the receipt.

“Both of these are permanently engaged. It took me three hours to get through and then was literally hanging on for another half an hour to speak to someone.”

Mr Leonard also used the suggested email address to try and track his pass but did not receive a reply until weeks later.

On Monday he received a call saying his pass was being sent out only to take a second call half an hour later to say it had been held up. He is still waiting for it to arrive.

The Post Office today confirmed there had been errors in processing Freedom Pass applications at its Teddington branch. A spokesman said the Post Office was writing to all those affected.

He said: Post Office would like to apologise to customers at the Teddington branch affected by this problem and reassure them that steps are being urgently to address the matter.”

Meanwhile, Anthony Chamberlain, 67, from Chiswick, has also faced weeks of uncertainty after applying for his pass on January 8.

After nothing arrived in the post he contacted London Councils - the joint body in charge of the scheme - and was told there was a backlog due to computer problems.

He finally received the pass last Saturday.

He said he had been told old passes would still work beyond March 31 - but said many elderly people would be worried about using an expired pass for fear of being refused travel.

Mr Chamberlain said: “There are a lot of elderly people who don’t know about using computers and are worried about telephone calls.

“I spoke to the postman the other day and he said ‘so many people are looking out for me and I have to say sorry not today’.”

Twickenham MP Vince Cable spoke out about the new system this week - introduced to avoid fraud - after receiving complaints from pensioners and reports of elderly people bursting into tears in post office queues after discovering their applications had been lost in the system.

Dr Cable said: “I have had several local pensioners approaching my office for help absolutely furious after ringing help lines which don’t answer or are always engaged.”

A London Councils spokesman said: “We have received over 900,000 applications and have produced around 800,000 passes to date.

“We are producing around 40,000 passes a day which means that all those who have currently applied should have their passes before March 31.”

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