One can understand David Smart's bewilderment over the term "free bus travel" when Brighton and Hove City Council has to pay £1.2m towards it.

Some councils will contribute more; some much less.

Unlike national taxation, the community charge is something we actually pay from our own accounts, unless we are on benefit.

But when Gordon Brown decided pensioners should travel free, "we" still have to pay for it, namely through our taxes.

But most people don't actually pay their taxes directly; it is simply deducted at source - even for pensioners, if they're the lucky ones who have enough money to pay taxes on it, and all those who go shopping.

However, I still think it's a very large step forward as it helps the poor more than the rich, some of whom never get on a bus.

By the way, pensioners in Scotland travel free throughout the whole of Scotland.

-RG Jenkins, Hove