PENSIONERS in Fenland will be able to travel anywhere in Cambridgeshire for free after the concessionary fares deadlock was broken yesterday. We are absolutely delighted, said a Fenland District Council spokesman. We have been at the forefront of this

PENSIONERS in Fenland will be able to travel anywhere in Cambridgeshire for free after the concessionary fares deadlock was broken yesterday.

"We are absolutely delighted," said a Fenland District Council spokesman. "We have been at the forefront of this campaign and have been solidly behind getting a county-wide scheme."

Transport chiefs from across Cambridgeshire have joined forces to scrap the ill-thought-out Government bus pass scheme and replace it with a fairer system.

The highly-criticised scheme has meant people aged 60 or over, as well as those with disabilities, could travel free only in their own district.

Now county, district and city council chiefs, as well as bus operators in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, have hammered out a deal to deliver a free county-wide scheme, allowing eligible passengers to cross district and city boundaries in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for free.

The new arrangements should be in place by the end of September. The county council said it would fund any shortfall.