I WISH to express my gratitude to your reporter Matthew Woodcock for his help and support during my fight to retain the bus service through Rufforth.

Elderly people need this service to attend their doctor's surgery. Without it GPs would experience a dramatic increase in the number of house calls from patients unable to get to the surgery.

Our six month reprieve will be a life- saver, especially because the winter months will soon be upon us.

Many of us could not stand in the cold for two hours for a return journey.

My advice to the people in Rufforth, young and old, is use it or lose it.

Mrs C P Hogarth,

Bradley Crescent,

Rufforth, York.

Updated: 10:28 Thursday, October 25, 2001