A NEAR-BLIND Hagley pensioner is facing a double rejection from bureaucrats refusing to fund vital day-care support.

Charlotte Bicknell, aged 73, is in the final stages of age related glaucoma, an illness which has already cost her the sight of one eye and will soon leave her totally blind.

The devastated pensioner has been told neither Dudley Council or Worcestershire County Council will fund day care at the Thomas Pocklington Centre, in Stourbridge, just over a mile from her Eton Walk home.

Charlotte said: "I am desperate, my post code is the same as theirs and I would benefit so much, it would be wonderful to go there."

"It is my nearest point of getting support, it would make such a difference to my life."

She says her only other option is a round trip of nearly 50 miles to a similar centre in Worcester, an almost impossible journey for the arthritis sufferer who walks with a stick.

Charlotte said: "I feel terrible, my friends and neighbours can't believe it - there is no way I can go to Worcester."

Dudley Council, while sympathetic to her case, argue Mrs Bicknell, whose husband died 18 months ago, fails to qualify because they only fund services for residents and rate payers of Dudley borough.

After the rejection from Dudley, Charlotte and her daughter, Victoria Cox, appealed to Worcestershire County Council for support.

Victoria said: "Worcester told us absolutely not', we are just devastated and it feels like the last straw.

"Mum has deteriorated in the last couple of weeks, she feels like she has been rejected, it's a matter of common sense and compassion, they are there to help people."

A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: "We have been in contact with both Mrs Bicknell and Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council to see if it would be possible for her to attend the Thomas Pocklington Resource Centre on the day she requested.

"Unfortunately the day she wants to visit is commissioned by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council for their service users and, as Mrs Bicknell is a Worcestershire resident, they told us it would not be possible.

"An alternative day at the Stourbridge centre was offered on a self-funding basis."

Officials at Worcestershire County Council say they are continuing to offer other services to Mrs Bicknell, in the meantime, her family is planning to take their case to Hagley MP Julie Kirkbride.