Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 10:40:57 on Sun, 23 Jun 2013, Recliner remarked:
But then you could argue, why does a 60 year old banker who has taken
early retirement with a large pension get free travel, when a 60 year
old who is still working 40hrs a week on minimum wage gets nothing?

Because the "free travel" thing is for the retired, not the employed.

Actually the grounds for getting a Freedom Pass are Age or Disability. It
doesn't mention employment/retirement status.

Currently; but that's a simplification of the original intention, which
was to try to assist the mobility of the "poor and aged".

Somewhere along the line, an assumption was made that all the aged are
poor. The same failure may come home to roost regarding winter fuel payments.

Yes, they're stupid. I'd suggest they be abolished and perhaps replaced by
an equivalent increase in the (pensionable) old age pension. That way, the
poor are no worse off, but richer pensioners are taxed on the benefit, as
they are on their pensions.