Library Fees For Coventry Pensioners

The Coventry Telegraph has a good story on how seniors are being affected by changes to library fines. It's this Orwellian language from Andrew Green (below) that bothers me. "Value for money" seems to be used to justify anything, fines on children who are 9 years old, or raising the DVD borrowing fee for pensions by over 100%. Public services don't exist to try and fleece the public who are already paying for them by council tax.

For pensioners, the price of borrowing a CD has gone up from 30p to 65p, the fee for DVDs has risen from £1.25 to £2.75 and reservations have gone from 30p to 65p.

Mr Brigden, a regular library user, said: "Most old people do not like being on benefits and have struggled to keep their heads above water, putting a little aside for their old age. The cost of living going sky-high makes things very difficult for them to make ends meet. This decision is almost like putting the boot in.

Andrew Green, head of Libraries and Information Services, said: "In September last year the city council undertook a review of all its fees and charges within its culture, leisure and library services. As a city council we constantly need to review our services to ensure they are providing value for money. As part of this process, all charges, including those for pensioners, Passport to Leisure and Learning and young people were considered and a new agreed fees and charges policy was introduced to commence in April this year and last up to 2011."