VALE Royal Borough Councillors performed a U-turn over a proposed pensioner rail card hike.
A proposal to reduce the charge for pensioners' rail cards from £12 back down to £2.50 was carried at the last full council meeting.
Labour Group leader Brian Lloyd said: 'We have been pushing for this for 12 months. Last year the Conservative and Liberal democrat councillors imposed a 400% increase despite pleas from Labour members.
'The result was that 40% of those who had previously used the card declined to do so in 2005-2006.'
The Frodsham town councillor also attacked Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors for proposing the railcard increase months earlier.
He said: 'How can they claim to care about all sections of the community whilst causing hardship to such a significant group as pensioners, and how can they say they care about the environment whilst discouraging people from using rail transport?
'Cllr Arthur Neil argued that the council had had an additional £500,000 from the Labour Government this year and was proposing to put more than £100,000 into the council's reserves when the council's own director of corporate services said the reserves were 'more than adequate',' he added.
