ANGRY South Shore pensioners who have lost their bus route to the shops on Highfield Road met with a local councillor to discuss their problems.

Many of the residents of Molyneux Drive have had trouble getting out and about since the No 25 bus service was axed. Highfield councillor Susan Fowler was at the meeting, held last Thursday at Lostock Gardens Community centre in Blackpool.

"There is a lot of disquiet that these people can't now get to the shops. There is a lot of anxiety and anger that they have lost what they had," she said.

Molyneux Drive residents now have to catch two buses to get to the shops, a difficult journey for the elderly and infirmed. Coun. Fowler said Blackpool Transport recognised the strength of feeling, but said people can still get to their destination and the route would need subsidising to be re-established. Other means of travel were also discussed at the meeting.

"Certain people were saying 'we've tried dial-a-bus, but it's more expensive'," said Coun Fowler. "They do feel their independence has been taken away."

And it's not just the residents of Molyneux Drive who are unhappy with new bus routes. Dorothy Shearer, 83, is from Cleveleys Park, in Cleveleys. She says that the 44A and 44B buses have been taken away which means that she is often left standing at the bus stop for 25 minutes for a Line 4 bus. "It is dreadful, there are a lot of old people, disabled people and people with sticks around here and some now have to take taxis. I stand at my bus stop at 11.30am and I now stand on my own. There used to be six or seven other people catching the bus with me. I think that a lot of older people who want to walk round Cleveleys are not going out."