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

The service provided by Durham City Council as a contractor for Durham County Council came to an end 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 that included level of disability, as part of a county-wide revamp of the service.

The city council had cooked meals and delivered meals through its City Care service. But it decided that 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 has taken over the provision of meals in the Durham area through another contractor.

Widower Doris Douglas, 89, who was mugged near her city centre home last year, said she had her twice weekly subsidised meal withdrawn because "I don't have a Zimmer frame or a carer.''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.''

The luncheon club that met twice a week at Newton Hall Community Centre has folded after deliveries stopped altogether.

The area's Liberal Democrat county councillor, George Hunter, said there had been no official notification of the service ending. He said: "There were no suggestions at all about how we could keep it going." A county council spokeswoman said it had to 'pick up the pieces' after the city pulled out of the service and had recruited additional staff to carry out an accurate assessment of need.

"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 but some pensioners would no longer get subsidised meals.

Durham City Council's community services director David Marrs said the reduced number of people eligible for subsidised meals under the county's new criteria meant the city would be unable to cover its costs.