A PENSIONER whose bus link to York District Hospital is set to be severed has organised a petition urging councillors to intervene.

Pauline Rooke, 72, of Alma Grove, off Fulford Road, York, has had a pacemaker fitted, suffers from angina and has had deep vein thrombosis, which means regular appointments at the hospital.

But the Top Line Travel-run service 28, which picked her up at Fulford Road and dropped her at Clarence Street, is due to be re-routed after changes to subsidies.

It will no longer link Fulford Road and Clarence Street, meaning she would need to change services at Stonebow.

An 81-name petition has been collected urging the council to reconsider the changes.

Mrs Rooke said: "I cannot understand how they can consider scrapping and changing services that people have come to rely on.

"These are aged people who are not going to the hospital for nothing. They are going to have trouble if they have to change buses to get there, plus there's extra expense of two bus journeys rather than one."

The service, which also runs through Heslington, started two years ago, with subsidies from the University of York, whose staff and students use it. The subsidy was only for a two-year period.

"I know they are saying this is a financially driven decision, but I think it is very sad when they are changing something that works well," said Mrs Rooke.

"I and many others have come to rely on this service, and it's going to be a lot more difficult without it."

York District Hospital is also supportive of good bus links for passengers. It has recently said planning permission is being sought for an extension to its car park because of demand from car users.

A health trust spokeswoman said: "I can't comment about this individual service, but we are working with the council and putting together our own travel plan to accommodate as many people as we can on our shuttle buses and on council-subsidised services. We are taking it very seriously. We want to make sure people can get to the hospital without relying on the car."

A University of York spokeswoman said it had been agreed that the subsidy would be paid only for two years to get the service established.

Top Line's owner Peter Dew said: "I am disappointed because our drivers have built up a very good relationship with the public and we would like to keep the service going. But what we take in fares is only about half of what it costs to run the service. If the money's not there, we haven't really got any choice."

He said City of York Council had been asked to subsidise the service, but it was unable to.

A council spokesman said: "We are aware of the situation, but this is a matter of current discussion between the university and the operators."

Updated: 15:23 Friday, October 11, 2002