A CHARITY taxi service for the elderly and disabled has folded after ten years because of financial difficulties.

Dial-a-Ride, in Darlington, had appealed to the borough council for help with funding, but without success.

After the authority's auditors examined the organisation's accounts, the matter was handed to the Charities Commission for help and advice in winding up the operation.

As a result of that, the Dial-a-Ride board met and decided the charity should cease operating at 5pm yesterday.

For months the charity, which operates five buses, has been threatened with closure because of increasing fuel and insurance costs, despite a rise in the numbers of people using the service.

A reduction in donations from £13,000 in 2000 to just £4,000 last year also had an impact on the charity's funds, as its income no longer covered costs.

The charity was promised £10,000 towards recruiting a fundraiser to ease the problems, but this had to be matched with funding from other sources, which was not forthcoming.

These problems, coupled with a determination to keep fares down for elderly and disabled people, meant the service was under threat.

Yesterday, charity chairman Roderick Burtt released a statement saying: "This has not been an easy decision, but it is one that is unavoidable.

"Darlington Borough Council has agreed to help formulate a plan to ensure that any inconvenience to Dial-a-Ride customers is minimised."

He said: "We feel as though we have let our customers down and we are extremely sad about it. It is definitely going to cause inconvenience to quite a number of people, but we do hope to keep this to a minimum."

A spokesman for the council said: "We will do what we can to assist with the provision of a service in the short term, but it will be necessary to completely review the way in which this service is provided.

"We need to secure another voluntary sector provider and this will take time. This has all happened very quickly, but we are talking to an alternative provider."