A PENSIONER claims the loss of a bus service has severed a lifeline' for elderly people in her community.

Ann McDonald, 62, now struggles to walk to the next nearest bus route after her local number seven service, along Cardonald's Mosspark Drive, was axed last month.

The nearest route is now on Paisley Road West - half a kilometre uphill from her home.

Ann is registered visually impaired and says she relied on private firm A and P Coaches' route to keep her independence.

She said: "There are a number of elderly and disabled people around here and we don't have cars. The number seven bus was our only means of getting out and about.

"We depend on that bus. There's no way we can get up and down that road to the main bus route on Paisley Road West. It may only be four or five hundred metres but for someone like me it's a real struggle.

"The bus company doesn't care - they're just out to make money. That route was our lifeline and without it we're trapped in our own homes."

Local councillor Alistair Watson, who is also chair of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, has been campaigning for Glasgow's bus services to be re-regulated.

He said: "I sympathise entirely with Mrs Mc- Donald's situation.

"SPT plan to engage with the bus company to see if we can arrange another service along the same route.

"I am a firm advocate of re-regulating the bus system. It's the only way to get a fair distribution of routes for communities."

In June, Maryhill MSP Patricia Ferguson announced a campaign to re-regulate bus services to ensure communities had good routes to local ammenities like hospitals and health centres.

Her bid for a shake-up followed the Evening Times' Get Glasgow Moving campaign - our call to politicians to ensure areas are not isolated by poor transport services.

Gerald Paterson, owner of Barrhead-based A and P Coaches, said: "I really feel sorry for the people who used the route but in the end there was only a nucleus of about 20 people regularly using the bus.

"We are a very small company and I only run two routes so I need to work somewhere more profitable."