WITH regards to Alan Gerault’s letter dated July 9, the same sneaky tactics have been used on vulnerable minorities before. Some call it the thin end of the wedge strategy.

As an example, I recall some years ago when another minority group of people, some with pretty severe disabilities in sheltered council accommodation, were asked to have their meals on wheels reduced to three days a week because of financial restraints.

Shortly after unwisely agreeing, the meals were cancelled altogether because if they could manage without meals on wheels for three days they could go without altogether.

Many people who have no need for public transport fail to see the important role buses play for many. Free bus travel for pensioners helps them escape the effects of loneliness by providing the means of travel to socialise and shop.

It’s so easy to complain without a thought of your own elderly family members or of the possibility that one day the pensioner’s bus pass will become an important part of your own life.

Age catches up with all of us eventually. It’s understandable that most don’t want to think about growing old now, but some people will through ill health and the rising cost of trying to stay alive, eventually see the foolishness of thin wedging the abolishment of bus passes, which have been a great asset for pensioners now and hopefully in the future.

Mike Fry, (Former Chairman of Lytchett Minster and Upton bus users group), Moorland Crescent, Upton, Poole