Shock as meal service is axed

A troubled meals on wheels service in the Black Country is being axed hitting 350 elderly and disabled people, it has been revealed.

Falling user numbers and rising costs of running the council-run scheme at Dudley have been blamed for its withdrawal. Council bosses say the service will be phased out by 2011.

Paul Hodgetts, whose 88-year-old mother Kathleen relies on meals on wheels, says he is "utterly staggered" at the move.

The 59-year-old semi-retired electrical retailer of Woodthorne Close, Lower Gornal, said: "I had a call from a social worker to tell me she had arranged to go and see my mum to tell her that the meals on wheels service is being withdrawn.

"My mum has been having the meals for three years. It is crucial in two ways – she gets a meal which she isn't capable of preparing herself.

"But also it is a daily check-up that someone is answering the door, which is just as important."

Councillor Peter Miller, cabinet member for adult and community services, had warned meals on wheels was on the way out because it could not compete with rivals and low price in supermarkets.

He said: "The service is basically phasing itself out."