Health and safety chiefs: Bus-stop bench must face a hedge - so pensioners won't fall into road

But when it eventually arrived - after two years of asking - it was far from just the ticket.

The local council installed it with its back to the road, and facing a decidedly boring hedge.

Elderly passengers say they get stiff necks from having to look over their shoulders all the time to see if the Number 70 is coming.

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And when they do spot the bus, they often can't get round the bench quickly enough in order to catch it.

A spokesman for Stoke-on-Trent City Council said: "The bench was put in this position because it would be dangerous to have it facing the road.

"Some elderly people are unsteady on their feet and would risk falling into the road or getting splashed if it was facing the road."

But Mrs Greenough and Mrs Clews said the position of the bench on the busy Leek Road was "ridiculous". Mrs Greenough, 84, said it had become a "laughing stock".

"We are nearly all pensioners on this road and the bus only comes every 85 minutes so you can be waiting a long time," she said.

"I've been on at the council for almost two years trying to get this bench put in, but if they can't do it right then they might as well take it away.

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"There is nothing wrong with me, I'm perfectly capable of getting on a bus without falling into the road. We are not all doddery old dears.

"My milkman thought the bench had been stolen from the park and dumped next to the hedge by some yobs when he saw it."

Mrs Clews, 89, said: "With the bench facing the wrong way, I have to get up quick to get on the bus.

"It can also be a little bit painful having to keep on looking over my shoulder for the bus and it can get boring staring at that hedge.

"The council needs to get the bench turned round."

Ward councillor Marjorie Bate said: "I have never seen anything so stupid.

"I've spoken to a council officer who confirmed that it was put in that way for safety reasons.

"However, even if elderly people do spot the bus coming, they can't get up quickly enough to get round and catch it."

A spokesman for Age Concern said the decision to site the bench facing away from the road was "extremely patronising" to older people.

Council officials said that installing the bench facing away from the road was not only safer but also cheaper.

Only £50 was spent fixing the bench in place.

But they calculated that facing the bench in the opposite direction, and placing it further from the road, would have cost more than £1,000 because a footpath and underground cables would need to be dug up.