applying for a bus pass.

[Evil Sid]

it is nearing the time when i can apply for my bus pass (late september)

to that end i have been trying to find out how soon before my birthday i can apply, should be simple right.

now here is the problem depending on which website you look at the time varies between 7 days before and 6 weeks before.

the gov website just says when you reach pension age or 66 whichever comes first. no mention of how soon.

the council website just mimics this but does have the online form to make it easier to apply.

i did come across one article that said you could get it for the whole of the month of your birthday even if your birthday was the last day of the month. (cannot find that one again)

so despite being ready to fill in the form with the appropriate details attached i just want to know when i can fill it in without having to go through it all again because i was too early.

i have sent an email asking for some clarification and am awaiting a reply. in the meantime does anybody on here know?

[Bill]

I don’t know how they work but it’d be much simpler if they just made them valid from the month you become eligible for one. It’s no big deal for them if you get it a few days or weeks early after all you’ve waited sixty odd years already.

I’ve just had to renew my driving licence for the second time as my 73rd birthday’s coming up at the back of September. No confusion with that. They sent me the form six weeks beforehand and as long as it was done before the old one expired then no problems.

 

Bill 😊

[Confused52]

My advice is to apply two weeks in advance at least. Warrington still gets passes from West Cheshire's facility in Ellesmere Port so the council accept your application and then send it off to Ellesmere Port for printing and then it gets put in low cost mail with a good chance of getting lost! To get a better answer call the council and ask for the Transport Co-ordinator and get them to give you the Gen.

[Observer II]

The last time I did it, was at the Council shop in Horse Market St; where they provided an IT advisor to fill in the app.  Don't know if the shop is still operational - but it's a lot more complicated than it was in the days of pen and paper.    

[Evil Sid]

well i got a reply back from the council.

Quote

Thank you for contacting Warrington Borough Council’s Concessionary Travel Team.

To apply for or find out more about an Older Person's Bus Pass or Senior Railcard or Disabled Bus Pass, please visit our Concessionary Travel webpages, here you can check if you're eligible, what you'll need before you apply, then apply for the concession.

very helpful, NOT. did not answer the question i asked but then again it was an automated reply.

I will apply later even though i don't reach pension age until the 27th of next month. be interesting to see what sort of reaction i get from them as according to the website it can take 21 days to send me my bus pass, if i have not got it by them i have to contact them.

interesting in that i received a missive from the council asking me to fill in the details for the financial wallers now that mrs sid has passed away so that they can adjust whatever i pay them in council tax presumably. that form i have to fill in and return, no option to do it electronically. two questions that i could not answer, the address of the previous owners and what was the name of the solicitors. it was 45 years ago i have no idea about either......🤷‍♀️

[Observer II]

Presumably the Register Office notify every Gov Dept of your new status, and financial responsibilities are ammended accordingly.     😢

[Confused52]

They don't need the information you can't give Sid. You will have said you moved in 45 years ago so they will not be looking to claw back council tax from the previous owners. When you moved in it was a different council with the same name! 

[Evil Sid]

3 hours ago, Observer II said:

Presumably the Register Office notify every Gov Dept of your new status, and financial responsibilities are ammended accordingly. 

not sure about the registry office but there is a website that you can go to and they notify all the relevant authorities i assume they do anyway.

banks and such you have to do yourself.

I did try and apply for the bus pass earlier and guess what, it would not let me as it said, quite correctly, that i needed to be of pensionable age so it loks like i will have to wait until the end of september to try again.....

[Confused52]

I know it is unheard of but I phoned the council Customer Service Helpline and the young lady there in the Concessionary Pass admin team told me you can apply for the bus pass two weeks ahead of becoming of pensionable age. You can do that online, over the phone or visiting the office at 1 Time Square. I would choose the visit to the office as I did and Obs did too. 

[ninearches]

I got my bus pass at 60 but i come under Merseyside.

[Evil Sid]

further development on the bus pass.

i received an email from a huumane beeing informing me that i can apply for my bus pass 3 weeks prior to reaching pension age by either using the online form or by emailing the relevant documents to them. so September 6th i will give it a go.

My father in law lived on the Wirral and because of his age received an all zone pass.

This covered him for free travel on trains busses and ferries throughout Merseyside.

It meant that he could travel to Warrington by train and only paid the fare from newton le willows to Warrington which at the time was about £1.50 return.

He didn't have to go to newton le willows as the tickets just say all stations Warrington.

the bus pass is only valid for England though cannot be used in Wales or Scotland both of whom issue a bus pass at 60.

[Bill]

Having read your posts, I thought I’d give it a try online but for some reason my phone decided it didn’t want talk to my laptop and I couldn’t upload the picture of my driving licence. I might nip into the bus pass department later while Mrs Green does the shopping if my dodgy legs will get me that far.

I think I’ve got a frozen shoulder making a return after I had a procedure to fix it nearly 15 years ago. Back then it got so bad that I was in a right mess and certainly couldn’t drive. Given how long it might take to get this sorted I thought it’d be prudent to get a bus pass now even though I currently can’t walk as far as the bus stop. ☹ BTW, the Revitive thing seems to be helping with that and each day I’m managing to walk a bit further before the aches start.

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

if you already have one then all you need to do is apply for renewal. if you mugshot hasn't changed they only need to reissue the pass.

did that for mrs sid about may and there was no problem and it arrived a week later.

which reminds me must find her bus pass, return it and cancel it. now where did i see it last....🔍🔎....🤷‍♀️

[Bill]

Nope never had one Sid and I’ve only applied for one now in case I end up in a no drive situation. As for the renewal process what’s the point in that? And if you pardon me for saying this, most of us old geriatrics will probably expire before our passes and it’s not like we can suddenly get younger so why even bother having an expiry date? I say if you look as old and decrepit as I do, then it shouldn’t matter if your photo isn’t more than six-month-old or that you can’t apply for one more than x weeks beforehand. I think that they do these things simply because they can, but nobody wants to be seen to be rocking the boat by suggesting that it’s all an inefficient and huge waste of time and money.

I think I gave the bloke down there a bit of a hard time but to be fair they’d rushed me into getting a new photo done before my 11 o’clock appointment then kept me waiting for over twenty minutes while they all chatted amongst themselves.  They clearly weren’t busy; in fact, the place was completely empty, and I was the only person waiting. I’d already given all my details in at the reception so when he asked me to give him it all again I had to ask why? I also asked why to most of the unnecessary rules and conditions he came out with, so I reckon he was glad to see the back of me.

I’m not normally that sort of person but ever since the council evicted me for no other reason than getting married, I’ve got no time for their stupid rules and bureaucracy. 

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

if you are past your pension age then applying for your first bus pass can be done anytime you want. always handy to have if you need to drop the car off for a service for example.

mrs sid was on her second or maybe third buss pass and apart from the first time never needed to do more than fill in the letter they sent asking if anything had changed.

it might be the case that we expire before the buss pass or we could end up living well into our nineties like my father in law.

I am entitled to the bus pass so i will get one. whether i use it or not remains to be seen. bit like a life belt on a ship you never know when you will need one.

[Bill]

It’s a lifebelt for me also and fingers crossed I won’t need it for a few years yet but you never know what’s just around the corner.

Just one final amusing thing on the subject. While the council bloke was rabbiting on about the importance and rules governing the photo, Irene said “Have you seen mine?” Her photo was at least 30 years old taken from a works ID when she had short dark hair. A couple of years back while returning from holiday we used the AI at passport control. I was stood behind her when it took the picture, so it got a perfect shot of my face with just the top of her hair visible and amazingly it accepted my face as her.  So much for facial recognition. 😊

 

Bill 😊

[Evil Sid]

my mugshot is going to be fun if ever i decide to trim the face fungus back, currently 7 inches of hair dangling from the lower chin, could quite easily pass for one of those people you see sat in doorways asking for spare change.

funny thing is somebody gave me a picture from a newspaper article some time back of a guy sleeping rough and asked if it me. it wasn't but the resemblance was uncanny.