LENGTHY queues and weary waiting in the February chill greeted large numbers of Glasgow pensioners as they lined up to claim their concessionary travel passes.

An elderly woman collapsed as she waited in the first-day queue at the City Chambers on George Square. She was one of three people who collapsed and were rushed by ambulance to the Royal Infirmary; she died, but the other two went home after treatment.

Another three women who showed signs of strain while waiting were attended to in the building.

Opposition parties on Glasgow Corporation demanded action o the queues, and the Lord Provost, Thomas Kerr, and others urged that thought be given to distributing the passes in the district halls rather than just at the chambers. The Municipal Transport Committee, however, felt that changing the arrangements at this stage would confuse matters, and said that extra staff members would mean shorter queues.

The passes, for men over 65 and women over 60, entitled them to penny fares on municipal services between 10am and noon, and 2pm and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

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Herald Diary

“Although it had been expected that about 100,000 old folk might be eligible for the concession fare,” the Glasgow Herald said, “the number who applied on the first day of the distribution exceeded all expectations, especially as a quota for the day had been fixed on the basis of surnames beginning with A to G. Some old folk, headed by a woman of 68, had begun a queue by 8am - two hours before the official time. By the early forenoon the queue was lengthening until it stretched from the main entrance to the City Chambers, ... along Cochrane Street, into John Street.”