Sheffield freedom ride pensioners

[Lotusflower]

Boredom is a wonderful thing

 

A fact to which 29 pages of largely hacked off windbags will testify!

[charmer]

Haven't these old people paid their taxes?

 

Or doesn't that count?

 

It doesn't count. You don't get free bus fare because you used to pay taxes.

 

Honestly? I don't know.

 

I'm just happy that read that somebody is sticking to the ConDemNation coalition and standing up for their rights, instead of rolling over and taking up the backside.

 

What rights? They don't have the right to free bus travel. So please explain that point.

[Lotusflower]

Yes something I've paid for. Why should they not pay for their travel?

 

I'm an old fogie myself and have a bus pass which used to allow free travel on Northern Rail services in South Yorkshire and parts of West Yorkshire as long as my journey started in South Yorkshire.

I am aware that this was a concession and not a right.

 

I can see both sides of the argument here and feel that some of the contributors to this thread have expressed views which, to say the least, have been more than a tad extreme in their condemnation and vilification of pensioners in general, not only the so called "freedom riders." I'm not bracketing you with these people Woodmally but I do find your stance to be unforgiving of older people who, in effect, are protesting about cuts in general and have enough courage of their convictions to try and do something proactive about it...rather than venting their spleen from the safety of a comfy seat behind a keyboard.

 

To those of you amongst the loudest and derogatory about us oldies I would say this.

You have a lot in common with us pensioners...our age roughly equates with the number of brain cells you appear to have!

[No User Name]

I think most people Swami dont support the pensioners here becuase they had half the consessions given back to them, and it still isnt enough. It's just plain greed.

[Lotusflower]

I think most people Swami dont support the pensioners here becuase they had half the consessions given back to them, and it still isnt enough. It's just plain greed.

 

That's not quite true.

 

If I travel by train to Doncaster I will pay half fare so you are correct there.

However, if I travel to Leeds (which I do regularly) The pass is invalid.

I have bought a Senior Rail Card which lasts one year at a cost of £30 and entitles me to a saving of one third off the fare.

 

We'll have to agree to disagree on the motives as I cannot accept that greed is what motivates these people. I met with and spoke to some of them in Barnsley outside the PTE office before a meeting by councillors and colleagues earlier this year. My distinct impression was of a need in these protesters to draw attention to the fact that cuts were being made which involved the loss of concessions made to enable poorer pensioners to have greater mobility thus preventing them becoming housebound to a certain extent.

I know it's still possible to travel free by bus but to get to West Yorkshire by that mode of transport adds on a hell of a lot of time to the journey.

You may have experienced for yourself what the "service" is like in Sheffield alone.

[No User Name]

Dont start on the Leeds thing, that is out of county and was always a "added extra", speak to other people in other areas and they get nothing in the way of similar benefits. I still dont get why having the Leeds thing on is so important, Sheffield can be got to quite easily either on a free bus or a half price train.

 

Half fare is better than nothing, everyone is having to make cuts, its just the way of life.

[Lotusflower]

Dont start on the Leeds thing, that is out of county and was always a "added extra", speak to other people in other areas and they get nothing in the way of similar benefits. I still dont get why having the Leeds thing on is so important, Sheffield can be got to quite easily either on a free bus or a half price train.

 

Half fare is better than nothing, everyone is having to make cuts, its just the way of life.

 

These protesters consider that to be a moot point...that's just a way of life, as they view it...which, in a democracy, they are perfectly entitled to do.

 

If they transgress into law breaking then events will take their course.

 

I don't know where you got the idea that everyone is having to make cuts. But let's save that for another thread...it doesn't belong here.

[No User Name]

 

If they transgress into law breaking then events will take their course.

 

Too late for that, they have already been doing so, and causing disruption to law-abiding full fare paying passengers at the same time.

[Lotusflower]

Too late for that, they have already been doing so, and causing disruption to law-abiding full fare paying passengers at the same time.

 

Then events will take their course.

 

Most protests of whatever hue will likely cause disruption. It is (imo) a necessary part of democratic society. Even Parliament itself would not exist in its present form if people had not broken the law and caused disruption.

[Annie Bynnol]

Then events will take their course.

 

Most protests of whatever hue will likely cause disruption. It is (imo) a necessary part of democratic society. Even Parliament itself would not exist in its present form if people had not broken the law and caused disruption.

 

There are groups in history who have justified their campaigns on the grounds that because the system is unfair then they can be unfair in attaining their goal.

 

In a democratic system (when that system is not the issue) it is required that that the protestors follow certain rules(the law). Then events will take their course.

There is also a moral requirement for that protest to be truthful and open about their aim(s).

 

What they did was to clothe their aim in a campaign which tried to include disability and extend the protest to Sheffield. They did not extend their arguments to include others who lost out and eventually the group were exposed as Barnsley folk who wanted to go to Leeds for free on .

 

There was legitimacy in their argument. Having subsidized bus and rail travel the PTE have distorted competition for 40 years. This may have resulted in the lack of commercial limited stop bus services serving Barnsley. The withdrawal of the subsidy could on those grounds be challenged in court.