A pensioner was forced to crawl on his hands and knees up a hill with his shopping after his bus route was axed.
The 82 year-old was found crawling up the pavement in the village of Netley, Hampshire, by a fellow resident who said the man told her: “That hill is going to kill me.”
The unnamed pensioner was trying ascend a hill which residents consider “steep, even for a younger person” on his way home after his usual bus route was axed by bus company Bluestar.
An urgent meeting was held in the village – which is home to 6,000 people – to discuss the future of the bus route.
Bluestar announced changes to its routes on Sept 1 to improve journey times in the area, but some stops serving Netley and other villages were axed as a result. Some pensioners in attendance were in tears at the fact they may be left stranded without a bus service.
The meeting called to discuss the route change was attended by more than 50 people, including Paul Holmes, the local MP. It heard that the stops axed by the company only carried around 20 people per day.
June Bangs, 81, said of the day she found the pensioner crawling up the hill: “I went out to my garden bin and found the poor gentleman on his hands and knees trying to get home.
“I rushed as quick as I could towards him and when I got to him, he looked up at me and said ‘That hill is going to kill me’.
“This bus service is a lifeline for us.”
Rachel Foulkes, a family friend, said she was like a daughter to the 82-year-old, and he had asked her to represent him at the meeting.
She said: “He gave up his car two years ago and relies on the bus for everything. He goes on the bus to Co-op, Hamble Square and Woolston.
She added that he’s very upset, and says that Bluestar have tipped his world upside down.
“He can get down to the bus stop on Hound Road but the hill back up on Woolston Road is steep, even for a younger person. I hope that Bluestar listen to what we have to say.”
Doreen Salter, 88, said: “This has floored me. This will mean we are completely cut off. It is just a tragedy for us older people.”
Bluestar said the changes will improve journey times and allow the bus service to extend beyond Southampton city centre to Central Station, but the changes have come at the expense of stops in Netley and its neighbouring villages.
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