A POLITICAL row has erupted over a district council's plans to introduce cut-price travel fares.

Tory-controlled Hambleton District Council has been criticised by local Labour leaders for failing to extend concessionary fares to disabled people.

And the authority has also come under fire for withdrawing a £40,000 grant to minibus and car schemes run by community associations in the area.

The Labour Party's parliamentary spokesman for the Vale of York, Chris Jukes, criticised the authority's plans to pay money to transport schemes run as normal bus services and used by concessionary pass holders.

He said people in areas such as Easingwold, which has a separate car scheme, would be left unsure whether they were eligible for concessionary passes.

He said: "The Tory administration of Hambleton District Council is simply playing petty politics with pensioners.

"After all, the Tory-run council is sitting on millions of pounds of reserves and £40,000 is a drop in the ocean to properly implement a concessionary fares scheme that genuinely includes all communities within the district.

"This is just another case of Tory councillors trying to wreck Government public transport proposals in rural areas and local people should be aware of that."

Chairman of the council's policy and resources committee, Conservative councillor June Imeson, refuted the claim that concessions for disabled people had been ruled out.

She said: "We did not exclude disabled people because that issue was not discussed at the last meeting. We have plenty of time to discuss that matter."

Coun Imeson confirmed the changes in the system of funding for minibus schemes, but said: "We are certainly not going to leave them high and dry. We said they should operate the same way as service buses, on half-price fares, but we will be there when it comes to replacing old vehicles."

The authority was forced into providing the reductions earlier this year when Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced that all councils would have to offer pensioners a minimum of half price bus travel from April next year