INCREASED fees are driving pensioners away from council day centres, leaving some facilities more than half empty and vulnerable to closure, campaigners have warned.

Those who used to attend but now do not are being left isolated, vulnerable and depressed at home, they claim.

A group is now calling for Glasgow City Council's director of Social Care David Williams to meet with them to tackle the problem. However the council says 80 per cent of clients are still getting a service.

Users of several of the council's day centres for older people say numbers attending have plummeted since fees of up to £15 a day were introduced last year. A campaign group has launched an online petition against the charges and is calling for social care chief David Williams to meet with them to discuss alternatives.

The campaign is warning that many of those who used to attend are now missing out on physical activity as well as social interaction and support, and are likely to suffer ill health and depression.

The council argues fees are higher in other parts of the country and are only charged according to people's ability to pay. The department says numbers attending have only fallen by a fifth since the fees for day centres were introduced.

A spokesman said 21 per cent of people who used to use day centres had not asked to be assessed for eligibility when fees were introduced, and had stopped using their places. But figures were not available for any who had dropped out subsequently, or who had been forced to cut the number of days on which they attend.

However elderly users of several centres say between 60 and 75 per cent of those who used to go to their day centres no longer do.

Tom Harris, 78, from Possilpark said most of his friends had stopped going and others now only came for a day a week. He said it costs him £18.50 a day including paying for his lunch and he is struggling to meet the cost.

He has thought about stopping going himself, he said. "But what would I do? What happens if I was sitting at home and something happened to me and there was nobody there"

Meanwhile Jack, 71, said: "If I don't have company I'm just watching the clock waiting for the hours to pass. But all the people I got to know left when the charges started. So I don't see them any more and I miss the friendship and conversation."

A member of staff from one of the council's day centres, who did not want to be named, said there had been a big drop off and only the most vulnerable, including people with dementia, were now being offered day centre places.

Meanwhile an artist, who has been working on a reminiscence project in nine day centres across the city said she had been shocked to see that some now only had 5-10 people attending a day, compared with 30-40 in the past

Kathleeen Friend said: "A year down the line, charges are still a major concern and having a big impact on day care users. User numbers have dropped, in some cases from 30 people a day to 10 people a day.

"On some days there are only five clients in shiny new facilities, and the ones who do attend are mostly the ones with special needs and dementia - changing the dynamic of the centres, and providing less stimulation for the more able. It is only a matter of time before staff numbers are questioned."

She said those who had stopped going were not being monitored. However a spokesman for Glasgow City Council said the social work department stayed involved with those who decided to opt out of attending day centres who it reassesses to ensure their needs are met. Fees of £15 a day are lower than the Scottish council average, he said.