PENSIONERS are facing a 40 yard dash to catch a bus – after their stop was moved down the road from their shelter.The elderly travellers wait in the shelter in High Road East, Old Felixstowe, to keep out of the cold wind and rain and peer into the murky distance to try to see the bus coming.

PENSIONERS are facing a 40 yard dash to catch a bus – after their stop was moved down the road from their shelter.

The elderly travellers wait in the shelter in High Road East, Old Felixstowe, to keep out of the cold wind and rain and peer into the murky distance to try to see the bus coming.

As soon as it appears, they have to run as fast as they can to get to the stop, which is now 40 yards away.

Gwen Naylor, 81 of Carol Close fumed: "It's ridiculous – we cannot walk very fast at all and there have been times when we have not got to the stop on time and the bus has just gone straight past us.

"A lot of elderly people use this bus route to get into town. We don't want to stand in the open and get cold and wet and that's why the shelter is there.

"But it is very difficult now to get from the shelter to the stop. We cannot understand why they had to move it so far up the road.

"There is another lamp-post in between – why couldn't they move it there? It would be half as far to run."

Her daughter Christine Woolgrove said: "We would also like to see the bus stop moved because now the passengers have to cross a patch of slippery grass to step up onto the bus.

"If they cannot move the stop, though, the next best thing would be to move the shelter down to the stop."

The bus stop was moved after First Eastern Counties solved another shelter and stop problem in Gosford Way.

It meant the bus route had to be altered but created a domino effect further down the line. The bus could not longer stop at the High Road East shelter because it would prevent its turn into Church Road.

But today after The Evening Star contacted First Eastern and bus shelter owners Adshel, both were willing to help solve the problem.

Tom Oxley, spokesman for the bus company, said an inspector would visit the site today to look at moving the stop to the post nearer the shelter.

He said: "If it is safe to do so on highway and safety grounds, he will move the bus stop there and then. We do listen to the constructive suggestions of our passengers – they are the people using the service and often in the best position to recognise such problems."

Don Buxton, regional development manager for Adshel said: "Adshel has so far not received a request from Suffolk Coastal District Council or Suffolk County Council to move the shelter and we would be more than happy to do so once they give the go-ahead."

n. Are you experiencing problems like this? Write to us at Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk or visit the forum at www.eveningstar.co.uk.