A COUNCIL is helping a service that provides a lifeline to keep elderly and disabled people on the road.

Peterlee-based Communicare provides transport for people who have difficulty getting about through a team of volunteer drivers and escorts.

But its ageing fleet of vehicles is suffering breakdowns and some bookings have had to be cancelled.

Easington District Council has lent a 16-seat minibus that it uses for training drivers to ensure that the service can meet its commitments.

Its volunteer transport manager Bob Baker said: "It has distressed us greatly to cancel bookings because of vehicle breakdown.

"With the loan of this minibus we can confidently tell our passengers to expect us at their door as usual."

Project co-ordinator Liam Weatherall said: "The arrival of this bus has given the whole of Communicare a boost in morale.

"We hope to have a number of new vehicles by late spring to continue the high standards of community transport set up by Communicare over the past 26 years."

He said that he was delighted by the "immediate response" of the council's chief executive Paul Wilding to the plight of the service.

"The survey commissioned by the council concerning the Regenerating Easington District project underlines the need for the Communicare service," he said.

The service, which gets funding from sources including the council, the Northern Rock Foundation and the County Durham Foundation, is applying for funds locally and nationally for vehicles.