More than three million older people will be forced to wait up to five years for their free bus pass after a 'sneaky' rule change.
The delay will save the Treasury more than £1billion over the next five years as 720,000 men and women a year reach the age of 60 to find they cannot have the concessionary pass.
Many will struggle to get to hospital appointments and stay in touch with friends and family, experts say.
Ministers were last night accused of bringing in the cut through the back door with new rules that went into force last week.
Free bus passes for the over-60s were promised by Gordon Brown before the 2005 election and introduced in 2007. Some 11 million people use them.
But people reaching their 60th birthday are now being told they must wait because of little-publicised changes introduced by Chancellor Alistair Darling in last autumn's Pre-Budget report.
Under the new rules, both men and women will be given their bus pass when they reach the retirement age for a woman. But this is being pushed back from 60 in response to European Court equality rulings.
The change is being introduced on a sliding scale and by April 2020 all women will have the same retirement age as men, 65.
Just think had they brought in the cuts to MP expenses say 5 years ago, they could have easily funded that.
Hitting OAP's and hoping they are still stupid enough to vote for the party that wants them dead, how typical of the scum sucking New Labour filth.
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