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A 67-year-old widow has spoken of her frustration over not being able to use her bus pass to travel on Plymouth's new open-top buses.

Julie Pearce, from Ernesettle, said that she was shocked to discover that OAPs will have to pay if they want to travel on the recently launched Plymouth Citybus 'hop on, hop off' Ocean City Sights tours.

She added: "Technically it is a bus and they are saying you can’t use the older person's bus pass. The pass allows you to travel on any bus in England.

"They have been leaving disabled people in the bus stops because they don’t have the £3 to pay."

Julie said she has lived in Plymouth all her life and was looking forward to using the new bus.

(Image: Penny Cross / Plymouth Live)

"I wrote to Plymouth Citybus and got in touch with Citizen’s Advice and they told me that according to the 2009 regulations the concessionary bus pass excludes buses intended for tourism," she continued.

"You can still get the ordinary buses but the new buses have been altered to take a bigger route. Half of the upstairs is covered up, so technically it’s still a bus.

"It is a bigger route so it would be a pleasant trip for the older people – especially in the summer when it’s nice and warm; people would love to get on there and have a ride around.

"People should be allowed to use them without having to pay."

Julie added: "It would be a pleasant thing to do – I’m a widow now so I have to find things to do. I lost my husband nearly ten years ago now.

"Now I’m a bit older, something like that when you go into town for the day is really nice and really pleasant.

"I call the older buses the bone shakers. I have a family and I have a little car of my own but that’s not the point – I am speaking on behalf of everyone that this is affecting.

(Image: Penny Cross / Plymouth Live)

"It has been a talking point. Quite a lot of older people go into cafes when you are on your own and older things like that are really important.

"Some days I have to make myself get out to do things because it can easily make you miserable."

A spokesman for Citybus said: "Ocean City Sights is a commercial, hop on, hop off tourist sightseeing offering, not a local bus service.

"The concessionary travel legislation explicitly excludes services operated primarily for the purposes of tourism from the mandatory concessionary travel scheme, hence the reason for a charge being made to concessionary pass holders. This is the same as hop on/hop off tour buses operating in other parts of the country.



"To make it more affordable, we are offering a discount to concessionary pass holders on this service which matches the child fare. Services 25 and 34 continue to provide links to the Hoe/Barbican and Royal William Yard from the city centre and concessionary bus passes continue to be valid on these services."

Click here to see the rules and regulations around bus passes in Plymouth.