It was supposed to be a humorous way of describing the pensioners who retirement in the seaside town of Selsey in Sussex - but the decision by a taxi firm to describe them as 'biddies and codgers’ prompted a rather heated response.
Chichester District Council has now announced it had launched an inquiry after registering a complaint from 66-year-old widow Maribel French who said she felt 'quite sick’ when she picked up a leaflet from taxi company Area 24/7 which offered discount travel to OAPs.
The leaflet advertised a 'Biddys and Codgers Taxi Scheme’ and offered travel anywhere in Selsey between 9am and 11pm seven days a week for £2.50. One dictionary describes biddies as 'interfering old women’ and codgers as 'old or eccentric men’.
Mrs French, a mother of four who has lived in Selsey for ten years, said: “The card came through my letter box on Sunday and I just read it and phoned them up and asked them who they classed as biddies or codgers. The chap on the phone said he knew nothing about it. I asked to speak to his boss and was told he wasn’t there.
“I think the whole thing is disgusting. I might be an OAP or a senior citizen but I’m certainly not a biddy. It’s like being called an old hag. And if my husband Alfred was alive I would certainly not dream of calling him an old codger. I will not leave it. I feel really strongly about it. Everybody I have spoken to has said it is disgusting. I will be going round knocking on doors and asking elderly people what they think.”
Michael Ellerton, a partner in the cab firm, said: “We gave out around 7,000 leaflets and out of all of them we have received only two complaints. It’s the talk of the village - they love it. They talk about it at bingo.”
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