SOUTH Shore pensioners are slamming a bus company's decision to axe a local service.

Angry residents of Molyneux Drive say they can no longer get to the shops on Highfield Road and have sent a petition to Blackpool Transport asking for the No 25 bus route to be reinstated.

Campaign spokeswoman Olive Williams, who lives on Molyneux Drive, said many of the crescent's elderly residents relied on the bus to get out and about.

The 86-year-old said: "It's outrageous. There are two old ladies across from me who are both bent nearly double. Now it costs them £5 extra to go and get their hair done because they have to get taxis.

"The company have put on a stupid No 9 bus that comes up from Midgeland Road, but it stops at the Lido and you can't go any further."

Although passengers can change on to another bus to get to Highfield Road, she said this made the journey too difficult for elderly and infirm people.

And she said more than 60 residents of Molyneux Drive have signed a petition stating: "We can no longer go to the shops in Highfield Road. Many of these people are invalid and no consideration has been shown to the residents of this estate. It is a scandal."

Local ward councillor, Coun Lily Henderson, is due to meet residents today (Thursday) to discuss the loss of the 25 service.

She said: "They are finding it very difficult because they are having to get on two buses to get to Highfield Road. It doesn't seem to be making people very happy."

She said she understood part of the problem was that the 25 service was running at a loss, but it may be possible to bring it back if the council agreed to subsidise it.

Liz Esnouf of Blackpool Transport stressed she had not seen the petition, but said there were alternative services on which passengers could make the journey to Highfield Road.

"It's important to recognise this is our commercial network," she said. "The 25 was used over the whole of its route, but there were parts of it that were not used well."

She said the company had looked at where passengers caught the bus, and their destination, and tried to match the two up.

And she said discussions with Blackpool Council about "social needs" are continuing, adding that the council are subsidising the 8, 8A and 9 services in the South Shore area.

"At this stage we are continuing to review the network, but we have noticed an increase in passengers overall since the Metro network started," she added.