All Council Tax payers who are pensioners living in London or surrounds are eligible for a Freedom Pass from age 60 (this may have been been raised to 62).

However who else is eligible?

I ask this because I saw a group of 5 guys of about age 30'ish, who could only be described as East European and evidentially unemployed, sitting on a wall in Trafalgar Square. Around their necks they each had a cord and holder with a Freedom Pass inside.

So are younger people eligible for a Freedom Pass? Are the unemployed or those on benefits also eligible? Are immigrants from the European Community eligible?

All these extra people must be putting a huge financial burden on the Councils &/or TfL.

CJB.

CJB wrote:
All Council Tax payers who are pensioners living in London or surrounds
are eligible for a Freedom Pass from age 60 (this may have been been raised to 62).

However who else is eligible?

I ask this because I saw a group of 5 guys of about age 30'ish, who could
only be described as East European and evidentially unemployed, sitting
on a wall in Trafalgar Square. Around their necks they each had a cord
and holder with a Freedom Pass inside.

So are younger people eligible for a Freedom Pass? Are the unemployed or
those on benefits also eligible? Are immigrants from the European Community eligible?

All these extra people must be putting a huge financial burden on the Councils &/or TfL.

I think there's a disabled version, as well as the better known oldie one.
I think you have to be a London resident, but not necessarily a British
national. The oldie version comes in two forms: at 60, you become eligible
for a London-only free Oyster card (which costs £10), with the standard
national bus pass plus 24-hours London Freedom pass becoming available at a
rising age of roughly 62.

On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:26:27 -0700 (PDT), CJB
wrote:

So are younger people eligible for a Freedom Pass?
Are the unemployed or those on benefits also eligible?

Disabled, at any age. The pass would have a yellow edge, I think,
rather than blue.

Are immigrants from the European Community eligible?

It's been called the European Union for a while now, and as we're in
it ourselves someone can't really be an immigrant from it.

Richard.

In article ,
(Richard) wrote:

On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:26:27 -0700 (PDT), CJB
wrote:

So are younger people eligible for a Freedom Pass?
Are the unemployed or those on benefits also eligible?

Disabled, at any age. The pass would have a yellow edge, I think,
rather than blue.

Orange I think, when I last saw my daughter's. She is eligible because she
is not allowed to drive.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Thursday, 20 June 2013 22:26:27 UTC+1, CJB wrote:
All Council Tax payers who are pensioners living in London or surrounds are eligible for a Freedom Pass from age 60 (this may have been been raised to 62).



However who else is eligible?



I ask this because I saw a group of 5 guys of about age 30'ish, who could only be described as East European and evidentially unemployed, sitting on a wall in Trafalgar Square. Around their necks they each had a cord and holder with a Freedom Pass inside.



So are younger people eligible for a Freedom Pass? Are the unemployed or those on benefits also eligible? Are immigrants from the European Community eligible?



All these extra people must be putting a huge financial burden on the Councils &/or TfL.



CJB.

Checking the eligibility it seems that the guys were not disabled, nor were they 'elderly.' So I wonder how they got what were clearly Freedom Passes.

CJB.

On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:39:34 -0500,
wrote:

In article ,
(Richard) wrote:

On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:26:27 -0700 (PDT), CJB
wrote:

So are younger people eligible for a Freedom Pass?
Are the unemployed or those on benefits also eligible?

Disabled, at any age. The pass would have a yellow edge, I think,
rather than blue.

Orange I think, when I last saw my daughter's. She is eligible because she
is not allowed to drive.

Ah, sorry. I'm not sure I've ever seen a real one!

Richard.

On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:01:44 -0700 (PDT), CJB
wrote:

Checking the eligibility it seems that the guys were not disabled, nor were they 'elderly.'
So I wonder how they got what were clearly Freedom Passes.

Ever worked for Atos?

Richard.

In message

, at 16:54:42 on Thu, 20 Jun 2013, Recliner
remarked:
the standard national bus pass plus 24-hours London Freedom pass
becoming available at a rising age of roughly 62.

If you became 60 today and were expecting a pass, you'd have to wait
until you were almost 64 (6th March 2017).

If you became 59 today, then you'd have to wait until you were almost 66
(6th March 2020). It's amazing how fast this eligibility is tapering
away!
--
Roland Perry

On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:01:44 -0700, CJB wrote:

Checking the eligibility it seems that the guys were not disabled, nor
were they 'elderly.' So I wonder how they got what were clearly Freedom
Passes.

Since you clearly had a long and in-detail conversation with them, in
order to check the eligibility, what did they say when you asked them
about how they'd obtained the passes?

Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 16:54:42 on Thu, 20 Jun 2013, Recliner remarked:
the standard national bus pass plus 24-hours London Freedom pass
becoming available at a rising age of roughly 62.

If you became 60 today and were expecting a pass, you'd have to wait
until you were almost 64 (6th March 2017).

If you became 59 today, then you'd have to wait until you were almost 66
(6th March 2020). It's amazing how fast this eligibility is tapering away!

But in London, your are eligible for the 60+ Oyster card as soon as you
reach 60.