The Cambridge Evening News is celebrating after its four-month campaign to deliver free bus fares to the region’s pensioners ended in victory.

The News exclusively revealed the county’s pensioners were facing having to pay full fare for most of their journeys despite the Government’s promise of free off-peak travel.

Piecemeal organisation of discounts meant that people travelling outside local auithority boundaries found it difficult to get cut-price travel.

The On The Buses campaign was launched – and it has now brought all of Cambridgeshire’s district councils and nearby Peterborough together to give free fares to over-60s and disabled people across the county.

Months of behind the scenes work and delicate negotiations paid off when the scheme, which will benefit more than 140,000 people, was unveiled.

Council leaders were united in their praise of the News – and said that without the momentum given by the campaign the whole process would have been derailed.

Editor Murray Morse said: “This is a brilliant victory. It is only right that pensioners can travel free on buses throughout the county.

“We have been overwhelmed by the strength of feeling on this, illustrated by the 10,000-plus readers who have signed up to our campaign.

“This victory what can be achieved if people are determined to get things changed for the better.

“It is a brilliant exanple of local democracy and the power of the Press. Politicians knew they faced the ire of thousands of voters expressed through the pages of the newspaper and that concentrated their minds wonderfully.”

Pensioners and disabled campaigners have flooded the newsroom with messages of thanks.

To make their voice heard, a 10,500-name petition was taken to 10 Downing Street by Murray and the paper’s local government reporter Rachel Extance.

The campaign was backed by pressure groups from across the UK and the issue was raised both in the House of Commons and the Lords. Supporters also included veteran politician Tony Benn and union leader Bob Crow.

The campaign was snubbed by ministers who even headed the letter replying to the petition “Dear Sir or Madam” – but just days later the News was able to reveal that the scheme could finally get the go-ahead.