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PENSIONERS still waiting for their bus passes will have them by the end of June at the latest - that is the pledge of the Vale of White Horse District Council's new leader, Tony de Vere, who has told officers to get on with the job.

Mr de Vere, a pensioner himself who only received his own bus pass two weeks ago, said: "The few Vale residents who have not received their bus passes are right to feel frustrated.

"I have made clear to officers that the small number of outstanding applications must be sorted out by the end of June at the very latest.

"The people affected by the delay with their new passes can still use the old passes in the Vale. They will get new ones by the end of June - most of them well before that deadline." Mr de Vere said that of the 16,500 passes due to be sent out by the council by April when the new free travel scheme began, about 700 still had to be dealt with. Since April, 600 new applications had come in.

He said more than 90 per cent of applications had been dealt with by the time the scheme began and more than 15,000 residents had benefited from their passes.

Mr de Vere said the bus passes came from an outside contractor which the Government had recommended, so the Vale had no control over issuing them.

"However, we do take responsibility for the small backlog," he said. "The council is processing more than 100 applications a week, so the number of people affected by delays is falling all the time."

The move was welcomed by retired accountant, Joan Woodmore, 65, of Baker Road, Abingdon.

She is still waiting for passes for herself and her husband, despite having made the application in February.

She said: "This has been very frustrating. We just want our passes as quickly as possible. I certainly welcome Mr de Vere's action and hope that it is now translated into fact. I know we can use our present passes until August, but we really do want our new passes as soon as possible."

2:03pm Monday 2nd June 2008

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