HUNDREDS of pensioners may have lost out following a shake-up of the Meals on Wheels service in Durham.

Changes to the service, provided by Durham City Council on behalf of Durham County Council, were brought in on December 31.

The county council, which is facing huge pressures on its social services budget, decided to restrict the provision of subsidised meals to the most needy, based on criteria including levels of disability, as part of a county-wide revamp of the service.

The city council had cooked and delivered meals through its City Care service, but decided it would no longer be economical as the new criteria would limit subsidised meals to as few as 55 people, ten per cent of those previously eligible.

The county council is now using a different company to provide the meals.

Widower Doris Douglas, 89, said she had her twice-weekly subsidised meal withdrawn because "I do not have a Zimmer frame or a carer".

Mrs Douglas plans to raise the issue with MP Gerry Steinberg. Her son, Ian Gordon, said: "There must be hundreds of people in the same situation. The council should definitely be doing more for pensioners."

A luncheon club which met twice a week at Newton Hall Community Centre closed when deliveries stopped.

The area's Liberal Democrat county councillor, George Hunter, said there had been no official notification of the service ending.

A county council spokeswoman said it had to pick up the pieces after the city council's decision.

She said: "We have eligibility criteria to make sure that our limited resources are targeted towards the needs of the most vulnerable.

"We have worked with the city council to ensure the impact of their decision to withdraw from the food service has as little possible effect on the service users."

She added that meals could still be provided at the full rate.

A spokesman for Durham City Council said the reduced number of people eligible for subsidised meals under the new criteria meant the city could not cover costs